RIVERSIDE — Winning a conference series is a great feeling. Sweeping one is even sweeter.
Miranda De Nava’s heroics inside the pitching circle Friday night helped the California Baptist University softball team take the first two games of a Western Athletic Conference series against Utah Valley University. Saturday, the Lancers scored five runs in the third inning and held on for a 6-3 victory at Funk Stadium to remain atop the WAC standings.
CBU (27-12 overall, 5-1 in WAC) won Friday’s opener 3-0 and outlasted Utah Valley 3-2 in 11 innings in the nightcap.
“All conference games are huge, and we want to continue to stack those wins,” first-year CBU coach Brandon Telesco said after Saturday afternoon’s victory. “Lately, we’ve been going 2 of 3 in a lot of series, so it felt good to get over the hump and get a sweep this week.”
De Nava, a sophomore from Riverside Poly High School, was the unquestioned star of Friday evening’s doubleheader.
De Nava threw all 18 innings for the Lancers and finished with 237 pitches across the two games. She fired a two-hitter with seven strikeouts in the opener. De Nava scattered eight hits, walked none and fanned nine batters in the nightcap.
“I knew I could get the job done with my team behind me,” said De Nava, who transferred to CBU after playing her freshman season at Cal. “I’ve never thrown that many innings in one day in my entire life. It’s definitely a memory I’ll never forget.”
Said Telesco: “Truth be told, she asked to pitch all three this week. That kid just doesn’t want to give up the ball.”
Ashlee Annett (Roosevelt High) provided all the run support for De Nava in the opening game. She dropped down a squeeze bunt in the bottom of the first inning, resulting in a pair of runs scoring. Annett added a sacrifice fly in the sixth inning for insurance.
In Game 2, CBU took a 1-0 lead in the second inning on a sacrifice fly by Sydney Peterson. Makayla Medellin doubled the lead with a solo home run in the third inning. Utah Valley finally broke through against De Nava in third inning, with the Wolverines scoring a run on an error. Britney Moreno knotted the score with an RBI single with two outs in the fifth.
CBU benefited from a couple of fortunate bounces during the bottom of the 11th inning. Jordyn Madrigal doubled off of the third base bag with one out. Madrigal later scored the decisive, walk-off run when Peterson’s fly ball to shallow right field was dropped by the second baseman and then the throw to the plate was up the line and skipped past the catcher.
“There was relief that it was finally over,” De Nava said. “But I was ready to go back out there for another inning if needed.”
CBU grabbed an early lead Saturday, as Kenzie Farrier-Pilon (Murrieta Mesa High) led off the bottom of first inning with a single and came around to score on a sacrifice fly by Medellin. Utah Valley (19-14, 2-4) tied the score during the top of the second on a two-out, RBI single by Megan Sterzer. It could have been an even bigger inning for the Wolverines, but CBU left fielder Matti Severns (Norco High) threw out a runner at third base on that same play to end that threat
Farrier-Pilon helped the Lancers regain the lead when she smacked a double into the gap to bring in Stevie Robison. Medellin singled home a pair of runs, and Malachy Russell-Millen and Emily Darwin also knocked in runs in the inning.
“It was important getting those runs early,” said Farrier-Pilon, a freshman shortstop. “We’ve been struggling at times trying to get those big innings. So it was great to see us stringing together a few hits and scoring those runs today.”
Madalyn Martin surrendered two runs on four hits across four innings to pick up her fourth win of the season. Darwin allowed one run on one hit in three innings of work to register her fourth save of the season.