May 22, 1999
AMHERST, Mass. - In a game decided by which team made the fewest mistakes, top-seeded and fourth-ranked Southwestern Louisiana prevailed with a 2-1 victory over third-seeded California Saturday in the NCAA regional tournament at the University of Massachusetts.
With the win, USL (54-9) advances to Sunday's championship game, while the Bears (46-20) must defeat the Massachusetts-Long Island winner late Saturday to stay alive in the double-elimination tournament. If Cal wins, the Bears will need to beat USL twice to go to the College World Series.
The Lady Cajuns took advantage of several Cal miscues to score unearned runs in the second and third innings. In the second, Michele Bailon doubled with two outs. However, Jael Dugas' pop up to shallow center field glanced of Cal second baseman Lisa Iancin's glove, and Bailon came around to score. In the third inning, Alana Addison stroked a two-out single. She then stole second base and went to third on a throwing error by Cal catcher Megumi Takasaki. Tiffany Clark's single to right gave USL a 2-0 lead.
The Bears, who outhit USL, 8-6, put a runner in scoring position in five of the first six innings. However, they also had two players thrown out at the plate in the both the first and second innings. In the first, Iancin doubled to left center, but was tagged out on a close play when she tried to score on Takasaki's single. In the second inning, a Holly Yost double and a sacrifice moved a runner to third with one out. Candace Harper hit a fly ball to right field, and pinch runner Valerie Nicklas was out at home trying to tag up on the play.
Cal finally broke through in the fifth inning on singles by Harper, Katie May and Paige Bowie. USL replaced starter Kim Dunlap with Melissa Coronado at that point, and she retired the side to end the threat.
Nicole DiSalvio, despite not giving up any earned runs, took the loss to fall to 18-11. The setback also broke Cal's 10-game winning streak.
"It was a hard-fought game today with two good pitching staffs," said Cal head coach Diane Ninemire. "Unfortunately, we made some key defensive errors that hurt us. We were hitting the ball hard. USL just made the plays."
NCAA Softball Regional at Amherst, MA
SW Louisiana 011 000 0 - 2 6 0
California 000 010 0 - 1 8 3
Dunlap, Coronado (5) and Bruce. DiSalvio and Takasaki.
W - Dunlap 17-4. L - DiSalvio 18-11. S - Coronado 1.
Records
California 46-20
SW Louisiana 54-9
