Softball ’Swords End TOC with Split

Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 TURLOCK, Calif. – The Chaminade University softball team concluded the 13th Annual Tournament of Champions Presented by the Turlock Convention and Visitors Bureau – and their only Mainland road trip of the year – with a split during Sunday's bracket play at the Turlock Regional Sports Complex.
 
Spending their 14th day on the road, the Silverswords downed Simon Fraser, 1-0 in the consolation semifinal, snapping their 20-game losing streak, the second-longest in program history. It also moved them into the Consolation Bracket championship game, where they fell to Cal State San Bernardino, 7-2.
 
The Silverswords (8-29) were the only team from the Pacific West Conference to win a game during Sunday's bracket round.

Complete Sunday bracket round
 
 
Consolation Semifinal vs. Simon Fraser
It was an epic pitcher's duel between Chaminade's Kaitlyn Watanabe and Simon Fraser's Jessica Goulet with only five total base hits in the game.
 
Watanabe allowed only two hits, both singles, the least number of hits allowed by a 'Swords starting pitcher since 2008. After a surrendering a single to the second batter of the game, she didn't allow another until the fifth inning and only two SFU runners got to scoring position.
 
Meanwhile, Goulet was just as good for the Clan (4-25), retiring the first 12 Silverswords. First baseman Aja Keyes ended Goulet's bid for a perfect game with a lead-off single to left in the bottom of the fifth.
 
In the sixth, Ashley Phelps' infield single followed by Elia Lizarraga's walk put runners on first and second with one out. But an inning-ending double play kept the game scoreless.
 
Watanabe pitched a perfect seventh, and in the bottom of the frame, a force-out put Jenn Betian at first base with two outs. Designated player Theresa Capllonch singled up the middle, moving Betian to second. The Silverswords, who committed a tournament-high 15 errors in the TCVB TOC, then became the benefactors of a miscue. Kaleen Terayama hit  a grounder to SFU third baseman Stefanie Sheard to potentially end the inning, but the throw was wide of first base, allowing Betian to round third and scamper home for the walk-off winner.
 
Watanabe (4-7) picked up her team-leading fourth complete game shutout of the season, lowering her ERA to 4.78. Goulet (3-14) took the loss.
 

Consolation Championship vs. Cal State San Bernardino
For the second time in three years, the Silverswords found themselves in a bracket championship game at the TCVB TOC. But unlike in 2012 when they captured the Bronze Bracket title, Chaminade would find itself on the short end of the bat.
 
Playing each other for the second time in as many days, the Coyotes struck first on Mary Menicucci's bases-clearing double for a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning.
 
In the top of the second, Chaminade mounted a threat with Keyes' lead-off single. Ciana Russ was plunked, followed by a walk to Coco Stewart, which loaded the bases with no outs. Kristiann Endow brought Keyes home on a sacrifice fly to right, and two batters later, Sierra Mendiola's two-out single to right plated Russ, cutting the CSUSB lead to 3-2.
 
The Coyotes loaded the bases in the third, but Chaminade starter Brett Aspel worked out of the jam, striking out Na'Tavia Lee keep the CUH deficit to a single run.
 
In the fourth, the Coyotes broke the game open, leading off the frame with a homer from Thalia Ortiz. They eventually loaded the bases for a third time and capitalized again with another three-run double, this time from Cassandra Williams, expanding their lead to 7-2. Marisella Rodriguez relieved Aspel (3-18) and extinguished the fire, getting a force-out at home plate and a grounder to end the inning.
 
Rodriguez would neutralize the Coyotes from there, allowing only one hit with a walk and getting a pair of strikeouts in her 2.2 innings of relief. She also received heads up defense behind her in the sixth, getting an inning-ending 6-3-2 double play, the Silverswords' 14th of the year.
 
Meanwhile, CS San Bernardino hurler Stephanie Luhman shut down the Silverswords the rest of the way. She allowed only three base runners in the final three innings on two walks with the only hit a double off the bat of Lizarraga in the seventh. Luhman (11-7) earned her second win against Chaminade in as many days as the Coyotes improved to 25-17.
 
Five 'Swords got one hit each from Lizarraga, Betian, Endow, Stewart and Mendiola as Chaminade finished with a 1-5 record in this year's TCVB TOC.
 
The 'Swords return to PacWest action next Sunday when they face Hawai'i-Hilo on the Big Island. First pitch of Game 1 is slated for 1 p.m.