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SALT LAKE CITY -- The College of Southern Nevada softball team spoiled Salt Lake Community College's final home game of the season, holding on for a 4-3 win over the sixth-ranked Bruins in the second game of Saturday's doubleheader at Bruin Field.
The win came after a dramatic defeat when Salt Lake blasted a solo home run with two outs in the bottom of the seventh to beat the Coyotes, 5-4. CSN had just tied the game at 4 in the top half of the frame before the walk-off. The Coyotes dropped both games on Friday, 5-2 and 6-3.
In the win, CSN put up four runs in the first inning.
Mikela Manewa lined a two-run triple to left field, scoring
Tiffani Taylor and
Jasmine Fukuda to put the Coyotes on the board.
Rhiana Balaun then scored on an error, and
Hope Curtis scored on a fielder's choice to put CSN ahead early, 4-0.
The Bruins started clawing their way back into the game in the fifth with a pair of solo home runs that cut the Coyotes' lead in half. In the seventh, Salt Lake scored on a two-out, RBI fielder's choice by Malia Campos on a play where CSN failed to record an out, making it a one-run game. Lauren Hager then hit into a fielder's choice, where Campos was forced out at second to secure the win for the Coyotes.
Alashanee Medina went the distance to earn the win, allowing two earned runs while striking out seven and walking one.
In Saturday's opener, with CSN down 3-0 in the sixth,
Hope Curtis and
Tiani Hensley hit back-to-back homers off of Salt Lake ace MaCauley Flint -- a 2-run shot and solo shot, respectively -- to tie the game at 3. The Bruins scored in the bottom of the frame to go up 4-3 before the Coyotes tied it again with a sacrifice fly by Balaun that scored Fukuda. That set up the last-inning heroics for Salt Lake. It was a heartbreaking defeat for pitcher
Sarah Rivera, who defeated Flint at home earlier this season, 3-0, when Salt Lake held the nation's No. 1 ranking.
In the first game on Friday, Balaun had an RBI single, and Manewa was 1-for-3 with a double and an RBI. In the nightcap, back-to-back home runs by Curtis and
Aimee Aipa in the fifth inning put the Coyotes on the board, and Manewa scored on an error in the sixth to round out the scoring.
CSN's win helped the College of Southern Idaho (41-9, 35-5 Scenic West Athletic Conference) maintain a one-game lead over rival Salt Lake (40-9, 34-6 SWAC) in the standings. Each of them have just four games left in the season, and CSI owns the tiebreaker after winning three of four games against SLCC in their only meeting this season. The league winner wins the right to host the Region XVIII Tournament, where a berth into the national tournament is on the line.
