McKendree University defeated Cal State San Marcos 4-3 Sunday to eliminate the Cougars and advance to the best-of-three series to determine the NCAA Division II softball champions.
CSUSM, which finishes the season with a 57-12 record and a No. 3 national ranking, left 10 runners on base in the loss in the pool championship game. Had the Cougars won the game, there would have been a decisive winner-take-all Sunday night to determine who played No. 1 Saint Leo for the title.
McKendree University (50-16) of Lebanon, Ind., was the lowest-seeded team among the eight teams at the Chattanooga, Tenn., championships. They won all three of their games by a single run.
CSUSM’s Alizabeth Ruiz and Malaia Huskey each finished the day 2-for-3. Czar Fleischman was 1-for-4 with a double, an RBI and a run scored. Sarah Bull drove in a run with a single and All-American Jillian Albayati had a sacrifice fly.
McKendree scored all four of its runs in the second inning against CSUSM starting pitcher Daleah Cardenas, who gave up four hits in just 1 1/3 innings. Reliever Madison Cabrera gave up two hits with five strikeouts in 4 2/3 scoreless innings.
CSUSM defeated the University of North Georgia 7-1 late Saturday night to advance to Sunday’s pool championship.
Jordan Hill and Daleah Cardenas combined to shut out North Georgia on four hits over the first six innings while Fleischman and Albayati homered for the Cougars.
Test for PLNU
Sixth-seeded Point Loma Nazarene (50-11) will play second-seeded and defending national champion Tampa (47-8) Monday at 3 p.m. in the winners’ bracket of their pool in the eight-team, double-elimination NCAA Division II baseball championships in Cary, N.C.
Track and field
San Diego-area universities will have only one representative at the NCAA Track & Field Championships, which start June 9 in Eugene, Ore.
San Diego State’s Jenna Fee Feyerabend is ranked seventh in the nation in the heptathlon. But no other local athletes advanced from last week’s NCAA Prelims at Fayetteville, Ark.
San Diego State 100-meter hurdler Jada Pierre came the closest. She ran sixth in qualifying at 13.31 seconds, but finished 19th in the semifinals with a time of 13.19. Aztecs teammate Charlize James was 25th in qualifying at 13.46. San Diego State’s Anna Mager was 12th in the 400-meter hurdles qualifying at 57.04 but was 22nd in the semifinals at 59.95. Isabella Nelson finished 26th in the pole vault at 13 feet, 4½ inches.
UC San Diego’s top finisher was Feyi Olukanni, who was 16th in the women’s shot put at 52-7¼ inches. Kyle Wood was the top-scoring UCSD men’s athlete, finishing 28th in the javelin with a distance of 203-9¼.