The Cougars downed Vanguard, 6-5, in the first game and then dropped the nightcap, 5-2.
In the first game, Azusa Pacific scored the game’s first 5 runs while senior pitcher Camille Hundley silenced the Lion bats and then danced out of trouble in the final 2 innings to preserve the victory.
Azusa Pacific’s senior catcher Natalie Mickelson led off the second inning with the game’s first hit, a solo home run to centerfield for her fifth round-tripper of the campaign.
The Cougars tacked on 4 more runs in the fourth inning, taking advantage of 3 Lion errors in the frame to move out to a 5-0 lead. Nicole Llorens and Bekah Weisser produced run-scoring singles, while Bre Anderson lifted a sacrifice fly and Heather Gilbertson had an RBI single to deep short to account for the scoring.
Hundley retired the first 11 batters she faced and didn’t allow a base runner until she threw away Sarah Howe’s bunt in front of the plate with 2 outs in the fourth inning. Howe, however, was erased moments later when Mickelson gunned her down trying to steal second base.
It took another inning before Vanguard got its first hit with 2 outs in the fifth when Jenna Bergh flared a Hundley offering just inside the foul line in shallow right field. Hundley then yielded her first walk, giving Amanda Plum a free pass, and when Gilbertson committed a throwing error that extended the inning, the Lions followed with 2 more hits to tally 3 unearned runs and cut the Cougar advantage to 5-3 after 5 innings.
Vanguard used 3 hits to score another run in the sixth and had the bases loaded with game-tying run at second base before Hundley struck out Amanda Omahen to end the inning with her sixth strikeout of the game. With the victory, Hundley moved to 11-9 on the season.
The defense failed both pitchers. Of the 11 runs scored in the game, 8 were unearned, all coming off 6 errors and a passed ball.
In the second game, Azusa Pacific grabbed an early 1-0 lead when Erika Navarrete led off with a single to left and came home 3 batters later on Hundley’s 2-out single through the left side.
After Vanguard answered with a single run to tie the game in the second, Howe cranked her fifth home run of the season in the third inning, a 2-run laser over the leftfield fence that put the Lions up 3-1. A 2-out triple by Brittany Parlopino in the fourth pushed the Lion advantage to 4-1.
The Cougars had plenty of opportunities to get back into the game, and perhaps even take the lead, but they left 8 runners on base, including 4 in scoring position, and they had 2 others out on force plays at third base when both Cougars did not slide into the base, giving Vanguard a much easier than required out on the play.
None was more excruciating than in the sixth with the Cougars trailing by 2 runs but with the bases loaded with 2 outs. Jen Whitten hit a comebacker that Lion pitcher Patti Olvera knocked down but was left with little chance to get Whitten at first. Olvera turned and saw she still had a chance to get the inning’s final out at third base as for the second time in 4 innings the Cougar base runner assumed the play would not come to third and thus did not slide into the bag.
Vanguard scored their first 4 runs all with 2 outs in the respective inning.
Whitten finished the twinbill 3-for-5 with a pair of runs scored, while Mickelson and Weisser both went 2-for-6 on the day.
With the split, Azusa Pacific moves to 22-18 on the season, and misses a chance to even its conference record, which now stands at 8-10 in GSAC play.
