Box Score Box Score
Playing its third game on Monday, Cal State San Marcos stayed alive at the 2011 NAIA Softball National Championships in Gulf Shores, Alabama, powering its way to a 9-3 victory over William Carey University.
The #4-ranked Cougars improve to 5-1 at Nationals and finish 2-1 on Monday, staying alive in the double-elimination bracket play. CSUSM is 45-10 on the season. William Carey is eliminated with the loss, closing out the year with a 54-8 record.
For Coach Dave Williams and his squad, Monday night's win was a year in the making, as William Carey knocked the Cougars out of the 2010 National Championships in the final pool play game.
Though All-American pitcher Brenna Sandberg has been the story of the National Championships for CSUSM, first baseman Alyssa Dronenburg took center stage Monday night. With the Cougars down 2-0 in the third inning, Dronenburg tied the contest with a two-run bomb to left field.
Dronenburg was far from done, stepping to the plate with two on and two outs the following inning. Always a patient hitter, Dronenburg worked a 3-0 count, yet got the green light from Coach Williams. She took full advantage, blasting a three-run opposite field home run to give CSUSM a 5-2 lead that the team would never relinquish.
Dronenburg finished the game 2-for-2 with 2 home runs, 5 runs batted in, 3 runs scored, and 2 walks.
Also coming through at the plate was third baseman Heavin-Lee Rodriguez, who went 3-for-4. Alicia Ingram and Alex Miller scored two runs each as well.
On the mound, Sandberg demonstrated the kind of endurance that has allowed her to lead the nation in innings pitched the last two seasons. For the third straight game on Monday, she threw all seven innings, limiting William Carey to three runs on four hits, walking one and striking out six.
Since Nationals began last Thursday, Sandberg has thrown every inning of every game for the Cougars, 40 in total, including 21 on Monday alone. She improves to an NAIA-best 41-9 on the year.
Now one of the final four teams remaining at Nationals, CSUSM will face off against Belhaven (Miss.) on Tuesday at 12:30 PM CDT in an elimination game. The winner will take on the loser of Cal Baptist and Oregon Tech later in the day.
All stats and results are available online at http://naia.cstv.com/sports/w-softbl/2011Championship.html
