COLLEGE SOFTBALL ROUNDUP : SCC Holds On to Claim NAIA District III Title

A runner-up last year, Southern California College redeemed itself Saturday at Costa Mesa.

The Vanguards (40-17-2) got a couple of runs early and held off Cal Baptist College of Riverside, 2-1, for their first NAIA District III softball title. The victory allows SCC, which lost the district championship to Azusa Pacific last season, to advance to Thursday’s regional tournament against Hawaii Pacific at SCC.

Sophomore Shannon Saylor (17-8) threw a two-hitter for the victory. Junior Beth Howard, a Cypress High graduate, pitched the final two innings for the save.

It was the fifth time in six meetings SCC has defeated the Lancers.

The Vanguards’ aggressive baserunning in the first and second innings resulted in runs. Carrie Nelson, who got a leadoff single to left and advanced to third on Cherlyn Gordon’s sacrifice, stole home for a 1-0 SCC lead with one out.

In the second, freshman Angie Vega, who reached first base on a fielders’ choice, scored on a Cal Baptist error to make it 2-0.

The Lancers (22-21) cut the lead in the fourth. Karen Brown, who got hit by a pitch and advanced to second on a stolen base, scored on Becky Dillon’s single to center. With runners at second and third, Cal Baptist had an opportunity to tie the score. But Saylor retired Katie Schmalhofer and Cheyenne Bonter on fly balls to end the inning. The Lancers never threatened again.

Pitching and defense helped the Vanguards dominate the two-day tournament. In their three victories, two of them over the Lancers, SCC allowed only one run in 21 innings.

“I was really pleased with our defense,” SCC Co-Coach Terry Zeigler said. “We seemed to dominate on offense, too. We didn’t score a lot of runs, but we had runners on base in almost every inning.”

In Big West Conference softball:

Cal State Long Beach 2-3, Cal State Fullerton 0-0--Linda Lunceford, formerly of Trabuco Hills, and Kristyn Frady hit home runs in the top of the eighth to give Long Beach the victory in the opener. Frady hit a sacrifice fly in the second game to help the 49ers (40-17, 19-10) sweep.

Denise DeWalt had five hits in the doubleheader for the Titans (33-18, 21-6), who had 17 hits in the two games but left 16 runners on base.

In the California Collegiate Athletic Assn. softball tournament:

Chapman finishes third--Viki Vechinski’s two complete-game victories over UC Riverside and Cal State San Bernardino helped Chapman (27-22, 12-13) finish third.

Vechinski allowed five hits and Vicky Cavadis had three hits, including a home run, and three RBIs in a 5-3 victory over San Bernardino. Vechinski pitched a five-hitter in a 4-2 victory over UC Riverside.

Chapman lost the opener to Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, 5-3.