Fired up by exceptional offense from sophomore Brittni Carino, the Tritons started off the April 22 through April 24 Mountain Dew Classic strong with several notable victories, but still managed to drop its final game of the tournament to the always-formidable Cal State Dominguez Hills to round out the event with a 2-4 overall record.
“Carino was unstoppable,” senior team captain Jamie Hurst said. “She had an incredible weekend.”
The Tritons (10-15 California Collegiate Athletic Association, 18-26 overall) played aggressively on April 24, but could not overcome Cal State Dominguez Hills, losing to the Toros by a 4-0 margin in the second semifinal game.
Freshman Melissa Ward took the loss for the Tritons after allowing the four runs, only one of which was earned, on six hits in six full innings of work.
UCSD committed two errors on the day that led to three Toro runs, but despite the defeat, several individual players emerged as standouts.
The Tritons were only able to tally five hits on the day as juniors Jenny Spencer and Niki Anderson and sophomore Dallas Hernandez accounted for three of UCSD’s hits, with Carino responsible for the other two.
April 23 proved tough for UCSD as the Tritons were blanked by No. 3 Humboldt State by a 7-0 score in the morning before falling to No. 20 San Francisco State by a 10-0 margin in the afternoon.
“They were really good teams that hit the ball really well,” Hurst said.
The Tritons had nine total hits in the first two contests on day two.
The Tritons’ losses mean that Humboldt State improves to 49-3 on the season while San Francisco State moves to 34-15. The losses did not mean that the Tritons slacked on the offensive spirit; Carino went 3-for-3 against Humboldt State.
UCSD mustered up enough energy to post a 4-0 shutout victory over Grand Canyon to close out the second day of the tournament.
“Our defense was excellent,” Hurst said. “[Sophomore Nikki] Palmer, Anderson and Carino all had a great game.”
Hurst went 3-for-3 with a run scored while Hernandez and Spencer picked up an RBI apiece for UCSD.
Ward threw a two-hit shutout to improve to 6-8 on the season. She struck out three while walking none in the five-inning affair.
The Tritons began the tournament on April 22 with a solid 7-3 win over Chico State before dropping a disappointing 7-6 decision to Cal State Stanislaus in the nightcap.
In the first game, UCSD was trailing Chico State by a 3-1 score after four innings before scoring one in the fifth and exploding for five more in the sixth.
“It was a good team win — we played them how we wanted to play them,” Hurst said.
Hurst fired up the Triton offensive, going 3-for-4 with a triple and two RBIs.
Spencer, batting cleanup for the first time this year, went 1-for-4 and added her second home run of the year.
Ward threw the first five innings of the game for UCSD, allowing three runs on nine hits.
“Ward really came through,” Hurt said.
Freshman Nicole Fullerton threw the final two innings and gave up only three hits without allowing a run while improving to 1-2 on the season.
Game two, against Cal State Stanislaus, was very different from the first game.
UCSD led the way early on, scoring four runs in the top half of the first inning and one more in the second before Cal State Stanislaus scored one in the first and tied it up with four runs of its own in the second. The Tritons then scored one more in the third only to have the Warriors score two in the fourth to take the lead, 7-6.
Senior Kelley Bryant allowed five runs on six hits in two innings of work before giving way to game one starter, Ward, who threw the final four innings in relief. Ward gave up two runs on four hits in those four innings to fall to 5-8 on the season.
Spencer, Palmer and Carino each went 2-for-4 in game two, accounting for two-thirds of the Tritons’ hits. Each also scored a run while Spencer had two RBIs and Palmer had one.
Carino went 9-for-17 with two runs scored and two stolen bases in two attempts over the three-day span.
In recognition for her outstanding efforts, Carino earned All-Mountain Dew Invitational Honors. She was the only UCSD player to earn the award.
This year’s version of the Mountain Dew Classic had 11 teams squaring off in a unique tournament format in which the championship bracket was seeded according to the most recent NCAA rankings.
This creative configuration allowed teams the best possible opportunities to play other ranked teams.
The 2005 classic featured five of the West Region’s top eight teams, including No.1 Humboldt State, No. 2 Cal State Dominguez Hills and No. 3 San Francisco State.
Also in the field were No. 6 Chico State and No. 8 Cal State Bakersfield.
The top six teams in the final regional rankings will advance to the NCAA Tournament.
The Tritons return to action April 28 against Azusa Pacific in Azusa, Calif.
