COLLEGE SOFTBALL CAL STATE NORTHRIDGE TOURNAMENT : Allen Provides Start, Finish to Matadors’ 3 Wins

Senior Cami Allen picked up a victory and a save to help Cal State Northridge win three softball games Friday in its round-robin tournament.

Allen pitched a four-hitter to guide Northridge (27-17-1) to a 4-0 victory over Southern Utah, then, after a 4-2 Matador triumph over DePaul, she relieved Tracy Tousley for the last two innings of a 2-1 win over Michigan State.

Northridge, 5-0 in round-robin play, will meet the winner of today’s Oregon State-Michigan State game at 1 p.m.

Should the Matadors win, they will play either UC Santa Barbara or Southern Utah for the tournament championship at 3 p.m.

Allen (6-6) was a one-woman wrecking crew against Southern Utah (2-16), striking out five and walking none besides going three for three.

Catcher Patti Pearson had two hits in four at-bats and drove in two runs, with Jen Fleming and Tamara Ivie each picking up a run batted in.

Against Michigan State (0-5), Northridge posted single runs in the second and third. But it took some dramatics in the field and Allen’s clutch pitching for the Matadors to hang on.

A leadoff single by Pearson in the second, a sacrifice by Kim Oakes and a two-out hit to right-center by Amy Colton gave Northridge a 1-0 lead.

The Matadors made it 2-0 in the third on singles by Nicole Wiggins, Fleming and Ivie. Ivie bounced a one-out grounder up the middle for the RBI, scoring Wiggins from third.

Tousley, a sophomore pitching her first game of the season because of a shoulder injury, ran into trouble in the fourth. Michigan State’s Denise Berrios led off with a homer, making it 2-1, and Martha Wendt followed with a single.

Pinch-runner Jill Werynski was sacrificed to second and with two out, tried to score on a single up the middle by Julie Hirth. But Fleming threw a strike from center field to catcher Missy Cress, nailing Werynski at the plate.

Allen came on in the sixth and allowed one hit the rest of the way for her first save.

In a battle of unbeaten tournament teams, Northridge scored twice off DePaul’s Missy Nowak in the fourth and fifth and Kathy Blake (16-3) made the runs stand up. Blake scattered eight hits and allowed the Blue Devils (7-8) two runs.

Cress was the offensive leader for the Matadors, going three for four with an RBI and one run scored. Pearson and Denise Swank each were two for four.