SAN BERNARDINO – Kristen Nouzovsky went 4-for-7 with two RBI as the Humboldt State softball team split a double header with Cal State San Bernardino.  The Jacks took the opener 5-1, but dropped game two by the same score.

The with the split HSU now 3-8 overall, 2-6 in California Collegiate Athletic Association play.  CSUSB is 4-4 on the year, 3-1 in conference action.

Game One Box Score
Game Two Box Score

In game one, the Jacks had at least one hit in each inning, but opened their scoring in the second on a Lindsay Warren solo home run.  It was her second of the season and gave the Lumberjacks a 1-0 lead.

In the third HSU was at it again.  Gia Hampton reach after she was hit by a pitch.  Chrissy Stalf singled and Hampton moved up to third.  Two batters later Courtney Hiatt walked to load the bases.  After a Geneva Perrine foul out, Nouzovsky ripped a double to left plating Stalf and Hampton.  The RBI were Nouzovsky's first two of the year and gave HSU a 3-0 lead.

In the sixth Warren led off with a single and took second on a wild pitch.  Two batters later Hampton walked and was lifted for pinch runner Sammi Gilbert.  The runners advanced to second and third on another wild pitch right.  Alysson Blenis then doubled to right scoring both runners and pushing the Jacks lead to 5-0.

In the circle, Veneza Hoover, who had given up just four hits while striking out five through six innings, allowed a solo home run to open the seventh.  The homer ended her shutout bid, but she closed out the game with a strikeout and earned her first win as a collegiate pitcher.

Stalf and Nouzovsky each had three hits and in four at bats. Nouzovsky and Blenis, who had two hits, each knocked in two runs.  Warren went two-for-four with two runs and an RBI.

“We played good defense today,” head coach Frank Cheek said.  “We turned a good double play and overall played well.”

In game two, CSUSB jumped on the Jacks, striking for three runs in the first two innings.

The Coyotes got a leadoff solo homer from Brittney Butler.  After a runner reach base on an HSU error, CSUSB got an RBI single from Ashley Collinwood and San Bernardino had a quick 2-0 lead.

In the second, CSUSB had two outs and a runner on second when Jaquelyn Holtzclaw singled up the middle to score the run and increase the lead to 3-0.

HSU got their lone run in the third inning on a one-out solo home run off the bat of Chrissy Stalf.  It was the first of her collegiate career and cut the lead to 3-1.

“That homer was a shot,” Cheek said.  “It must have gone 300 feet.  The defense didn't even move.  She crushed it.”

The score remained 3-1 until the bottom of the fifth when the Coyotes got a two-run homer to left from Priscilla Curiel for a 5-1 advantage.  The homer chased Jacks starter Kristina Lewis who was ultimately tagged with the loss.

She allowed nine hits and five runs, four earned, in 4.2 innings.  Her record is now 0-2.

HSU was held to just four hits in the game, led by Stalf's homer and a Nouzovsky double.

“Nouzovsky is locked in,” Cheek sad.  “She has been injured over the past two year's, but right now she is on fire and seeing the ball really well."

The Jacks and Coyotes wrap up the six-game weekend set with a non-conference double header on Sunday with first pitch at 10 a.m.