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Vulcans win twice, face Dixie St. today

By The 3 min read

California (Pa.) won twice Saturday in the NCAA Division II softball championship tournament to reach the national semifinals on Sunday.

The Vulcans held off the University of Indianapolis, 2-1 after going extra innings to post a 7-6 eight-inning win over Central Missouri.

In the process of eliminating both teams they beat Saturday, the Vulcans set up a rematch Sunday with the only team to beat Cal at these championships, being held at ASA Hall of Fame Stadium in Oklahoma City, OK.

California will play Dixie State at 3:30 p.m. Sunday afternoon and would have to beat the Red Storm twice, since Dixie is undefeated and handed Cal its only loss, 1-0, Thursday.

Two wins Sunday would send the Vulcans (43-12) into the national championship game, set for 1 p.m. Monday.

Cal U overcame a 6-0 deficit in its 7-6 win over Central Missouri. The Mules scored three in the third when a passed ball scored Makayla Schoonover and Lauren Mabe brought home two more runs on a bases-loaded single.

The Mules chased Vulcans starter Alex Sagl in the fifth inning when Jakki Prater and Mabe hit back-to-back homers to make it 6-0.

Connellsville native Meghan Uher gave up two hits, but kept the Mules off the scoreboard while the Vulcans came back with three runs in the fifth and three more in the bottom of the seventh to the force extra inning.

Sagl earned the win, however, when she reentered the circle to get the Vulcans out of a jam in the top of the eighth inning.

Cal’s fifth inning saw Kaity Finley drive in a run on a single. Emily Price followed with a run-scoring double before Lindsay Reicoff’s sacrifice fly to center made it 6-3.

The Vulcans scored all three seventh-inning runs after two outs had been recorded. Three consecutive run-scoring singles by Natalya Smarra, Jacquelyn Fowler and Hailey Wilson tied the score.

Price, who finished the game 3-for-4 with a pair of RBI, got teh game winner when her single to right in the bottom of the eighth scored Erica Vallecorsa, who had doubled to open the inning.

In the second game, Reicoff delivered a two-run single in the bottom of the third inning and Sagl made it stand up in a 2-1 win over Indianapolis.

Against Midwest Region-Champion Indianapolis (48-15), Sagl battled fellow National Fastpitch Coaches Association (NFCA) All-American Morgan Foley in a 2-1 pitchers’ duel. Sagl (29-5) scattered eight hits and allowed one run (earned) with no walks over 7.0 innings (116 pitches). Foley, who leads NCAA Division II in strikeouts, surrendered two runs (both earned) on two hits and four walks in 6.0 innings (90 pitches).

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