Aztecs In Semifinals of Softball Tournament

The San Diego State softball team won two both games of double elimination Saturday to advance to today’s semifinals of the Lady Lion Invitational at Penn State.

SDSU defeated Monmouth (NJ), 7-0, and Penn State, 4-0, to advance. The Aztecs (21-15-1) previously had defeated both of those teams in Friday’s pool play to earn the top-seed going into action Saturday.

Against Monmouth (14-24), SDSU got at least one hit from every batter. Tracy Stowe hit a three-run double for the Aztecs.

In the tournament SDSU, which has now won six consecutive games, is batting .383, averaging five runs a game and in four games three pitchers combined for a .25 ERA.

Diana Moreno pitched a three-hitter and Kathy Fogg a four-hitter as UC San Diego swept a doubleheader against visiting California Baptist, 3-0 and 2-1.

Dana Chaiken went four for seven on the day. She stole home in the first game and drove in two runs in the second. UCSD is 18-19, Cal Baptist 19-25.

TRACK AND FIELD

Senior Annette Ronnerman won two events and anchored the winning 4x400 meters, the final event, to lift Point Loma Nazarene to an 81-77 victory over UC San Diego in the San Diego Track and Field Championships at PLNC.

Ronnerman set a school record in the 1,500 with a mark of 4 minutes, 39.19 seconds, and won the 800 in 2:17.01. The 4x400 team clocked 3:56.54, also a school record.

UCSD’s Shannon Quigley won twice, in the shot put (44-5 1/2) and discus (159-7).

PLNC’s men won 11 events to outdistance UCSD, 101-75. Christian Andreasson led PLNC with three firsts, in the shot put (43-4 1/2), javelin (187-0) and triple jump (46-5). UC San Diego’s Chris Cogbill won the hammer (166-3) and discus (139-0).

Tracy Wright of the San Diego Track Club took third place in the open 800 (2:17.82) at the UC Irvine Invitational.

BASEBALL

PLNC scored one run in the bottom of the ninth and two in the 11th to take a 4-3 Golden State Athletic Conference victory over Westmont College, and followed with a 3-2 decision in the second game.

Kevin Hazlett’s bunt single scored David Swearingen with the tying run in the ninth inning of the opener. Hazlett opened the 11th with a single and scored on Rodney Williams’ single and Williams later score on an error by the shortstop. In the second game, Jason Huntley’s single scored Rich Miller in the sixth inning of the seven-inning game. PLNC is 17-27, 4-14. Westmont is 14-25, 5-13.

Sean Durbin’s balk allowed the winning run to score as St. Mary’s College scored a 4-3 victory over University of San Diego, sweeping a West Coast Conference doubleheader. St. Mary’s won the first game, 8-2.

USD (19-28-2, 10-18) held a 3-2 lead in the eighth inning of the second game, but three consecutive hits off starter Chris Collins scored one run, and Durbin (3-6) replaced Collins with a 1 ball, 2 strike count Chris Jones. Then came the balk.

St. Mary’s is 23-21, 17-12.

Ryan Flanagan scattered six hits, struck out 10 and walked one for UC San Diego (13-20), which beat The Master’s College, 4-0, in the second game of a nonconference doubleheader. Steve Nowlan went three for three with an RBI, and Anthony Sanchez had two hits and an RBI for UCSD (13-20). The Master’s College (21-16) won the first game, 10-4.

Each team hit four home runs as Grand Canyon College outslugged U.S. International, 14-13, in a nonconference game. Grand Canyon (22-26) scored 12 runs over the final four innings.

James Gibson went one for five for USIU (12-355). He hit a grand slam in the first inning and came to bat with the bases loaded and two out in the ninth, but popped up. Darrin Forster had two homers and six RBIs, and Greg Shepard had a homer and two RBIs.

San Diego State, which had two games against Brigham Young postponed because of snow in Provo, Utah, had Sunday’s scheduled tripleheader snowed out as well.

AUTO RACING

San Diego’s Gerry Layer and La Jolla’s Mark Leonard were class winners in qualifying runs for today’s San Diego Historic Grand Prix at Jack Murphy Stadium.

Layer won the eight-lap Sports Racing class, and Leonard topped the Formula B entrants.