COLLEGE ROUNDUP : Titans Take 21 Innings to Beat Fresno

When Ernie Banks said, “Let’s play two,” this probably wasn’t what he meant.

Cal State Fullerton and Fresno State needed 21 innings and five hours 18 minutes to finish the first game of a key Big West Conference softball doubleheader Sunday at Titan Field.

The Titans ended the game in the bottom of the 21st on Denise DeWalt’s two-out single, which scored Marci White to give Fullerton a 3-2 victory.

Fullerton, ranked No. 6 in the nation, completed the sweep when White homered in the sixth inning of the second game as the Titans won, 2-1.

The two victories moved Fullerton (41-18, 23-11 in conference) within a game of first-place Fresno (46-14, 24-10) in the conference title race. Fresno is ranked fourth in the nation.

For Tiffany Boyd of Fullerton and Terry Carpenter of Fresno, DeWalt’s game-winning hit ended a long weekend for last season’s co-Big West pitchers of the year. Boyd and Carpenter each pitched seven-inning games Saturday and both went the distance Sunday, bringing their two-day totals to 28 innings pitched--the equivalent of four games.

Boyd, a junior from Woodbridge High School, improved to 29-6 with the victory. She struck out 10 and gave up 17 hits. Carpenter, a senior from Edison High School, also gave up 17 hits and dropped to 21-7 despite 14 strikeouts.

Fullerton took a 2-0 lead after four innings on RBI singles by KC Clark in the third and Melissa Hadfield in the fourth. Fresno rallied to tie the score in the sixth behind three hits, two walks and a Titan error.

For the next 14 innings, neither team scored, although both had chances. In the 15th, DeWalt saved a go-ahead run by Fresno when she made a backhanded stop of a ball that appeared to be headed for left field.

Fresno’s Kim Maher, running from second on the play, thought the ball went through and rounded third. DeWalt then threw to the plate to catch Maher in a rundown, and catcher Kim Powers threw to Clark at third, who tagged Maher for the third out.

Boyd nearly won the game in the 17th with a deep drive, but Fresno’s Misty Poplawski reached over the left-field fence to make the catch.

In nonconference baseball:

UC Santa Barbara 7-3, Chapman 3-0--Chris Johnson and Danny Lane, both from Orange County, had home runs as host UC Santa Barbara swept a doubleheader.

Johnson, from Fullerton College, hit his 11th home run in the first game and Danny Lane had his seventh in the second game for the Gauchos (28-18-1). Kevin Cook had two singles in the first game for Chapman (29-21), which has lost five in a row and eight of nine.