Fresno State Scores Late Knockout of Titans

It was an agonizing way to end a sparkling season.

Cal State Fullerton, which won an undisputed Big West Conference championship under first-year Coach Michelle Gromacki, had top-seeded Fresno State on the brink of elimination Saturday in the NCAA Division I regional softball tournament, but the host Bulldogs rallied for three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning for a dramatic 4-3 victory.

“We played with heart, and they played with heart, but in the end they had more experience, and maybe a little more luck,” said Gromacki, whose Titans finished the season 45-15.

Fresno State went into its final at-bat trailing by two runs after Amanda Hockett’s two-run homer to left in the sixth broke a 1-1 tie. Titan starting pitcher Christy Robitaille retired Fresno in order in the sixth, but the Titans didn’t get an out in the seventh.

An error by Hockett at shortstop and a hit by pitcher Kristen Hunter gave Fresno two baserunners quickly, and a looping single into short right field by Vanessa Czarnecki drove in two runs to tie the score. An infield hit by Alicia Dowland kept the rally rolling, and Gromacki replaced Robitaille with freshman Jodie Cox.

Cox hit pinch-hitter Shannyn Morgan to load the bases, and Czarnecki scored on Cox’s wild pitch to Lovianne Jung. The ball hit the plate and bounced over catcher Michelle Lehr’s head.

“I’m sure Jodie feels awful, but it wasn’t her fault,” Gromacki said. “We put ourselves in that situation. I felt like we needed to make a [pitching] change then to try to change their momentum. That was about as tough a situation as a pitcher could be in.”

Robitaille (14-7) took the loss, with the victory going to Hunter (20-9). Hunter shared pitching duties with Amanda Scott, who gave up all three Titan runs in 2 1/3 innings of relief before Hunter returned. Scott had entered the tournament leading the nation with a 0.34 earned-run average.

Fresno State Coach Margie Wright said she had decided to start Hunter because she had pitched well against the Titans last season. “As I remember that game, she struck out a bunch of batters and had a real good game,” Wright said.

Despite the collapse in the seventh, Gromacki said she wouldn’t have done anything differently.

“It’s just unfortunate that we didn’t have one more pitcher available,” Gromacki said.

One of the Titans’ three starting pitchers, Gina Oaks (14-4), was sidelined because of mononucleosis. “That put a lot of pressure on Jodie in this tournament, and that may have [taken] its toll,” Gromacki said.

But Gromacki said she was pleased by the team’s competitive spirit throughout the tournament.

“They just got the hits and the breaks at the right time,” Hockett said. “Everyone on our team gave it everything they had.”