Box Score
Turlock, CA - The Simon Fraser University softball team defeated their Great Northwest Athletic Conference cross border rivals, the Western Washington Vikings 4-3 on
Sunday to win the bronze bracket at the Mizuno Tournament of Champions host by Cal State Stanislaus.
SFU spread the workload around, using three pitchers in the game.
Cara Lukawesky (Coquitlam, BC) got the start against the Vikings, going three innings, allowing two hits and one run with a strikeout.
Mackenzie Bender (St. Albert, AB) came on in relief of Lukawesky and threw one and two thirds innings, allowing no runs on one hit. She would also get credit for the win.
Kelsie Hawkins (Victoria, BC) finished things off for the Clan, throwing two and a third innings and getting the save, her second of the season.
Hawkins allowed four hits and two runs, only one of which was earned.
"Even though we were playing a key conference rival there was limited emotion in this game because neither side wanted to tip their hand since we still have some important conference games left," said Head Coach
Mike Renney. "We threw all three of our pitchers pitched and played the entire bench. It was good to get our younger players into a tight game and I'm pleased to come away from the tournament with a 4-2 record."
Lead off hitter
Carly Lepoutre (Pickering, ON) led the Clan offence, going two for three with a run batted in and a run scored.
Rachel Proctor (Surrey, BC) also had an RBI and a run scored in the game for SFU.
Trisha Bouchard (Montreal, QC) and
Kaitlyn Cameron (Langley, BC) had the other RBI's for SFU and Alana Pineault (Surrey, BC) and
Mackenzie Bender (St. Albert, SK) each scored a run for the Clan.
WWU opened the scoring in the top of the first and the Clan matched in their half when Lepoutre led off with a single, advanced to second on a sacrifice, third on a single by
Danielle Raison (Langley, BC) and scored on a sacrifice fly by Cameron.
In the fourth inning the Clan took the lead, scoring three runs on four hits and an error to jump out to a three run lead.
After scoring one in the sixth, the Vikings scored another in the seventh to cut the lead to one but the Clan retired the side, stranding the tying run at second base to win the game.
The Clan were slated to play the final game of the bracket against the Grand Canyon University Antelopes, but GCU had to pull out of the tournament due to reaching their NCAA game limit, making SFU the winners of the bronze bracket.
With the win, the Clan's record improves to 21-16 on the season. Since the game was part of tournament play, it does not count in the GNAC standings, meaning the Clan's conference record remains 11-4.
SFU will return home to Beedie Field on
Wednesday to host the University of British Columbia Thunderbirds in a non-conference double header beginning at 4:00 p.m.
