Box Score ARCATA – With any other team during any other season, HSU softball coach Frank Cheek would make a different decision with nobody out and the leadoff runner on base after being hit by a pitch.
A bunt would be on 100% of the time. This team, this season? Swing away.
Tonya Walker made the most of the green light, sending the ball over the centerfield fence 230 feet away for an early 2-0 lead in Humboldt's 7-1 victory over UC San Diego in the first day of the NCAA West Region playoffs on Friday.
“I was not surprised I didn't get the bunt sign on the first pitch because the third baseman was down my throat, pretty much past halfway from third,” Walker said. “But it did surprise me that I didn't get the bunt sign on the second pitch. But he didn't put on the bunt, and I guess it was for a good reason.”
“Tonya's ball was a shot,” said Cheek. “She's our number two hitter. She's supposed to bunt. But you know what, I watched her on Thursday in batting practice, and she was pounding the ball. I just let her hit away because I felt she could hit the ball.”
Walker's blast was one of three extremely long balls hit by Humboldt State.
Dani Randall (11) and
Hannah Williams (17) each hit solo homers in the fourth. Randall's, like Walker's, was to straightaway center. Humboldt leads the nation with 106 home runs.
“It felt nice. It felt good,” Walker said. “The distance of the fences is obviously not the reason we've done well. We are a good hitting team. We're going to keep doing it no matter how close or far the fences are.”
The first-inning fireworks did not end with Walker's home run. After UCSD provided some base runners with walks,
Megan Wink knocked in two more with a double and was driven in by an
Andrea Chavez single.
Despite the early 5-0 lead, Cheek went to Lizzie Perez in relief in the top of the third after starter
Katie Obbema allowed her seventh base runner of the game. It was the first appearance for Perez since April 27.
“Being put in for the first time in awhile, I was nervous,” Perez said. “But I also knew that I have a rock solid defense, and I knew they would help me if I ever got into a struggle. All I had to do was my job. The time I haven't been pitching I have been working on my spin and trying to get myself prepared in case I did have to go in. With all the hard work it has paid off.“
Perez (18-5) was the winning pitcher and allowed only one ball out of the infield for the first 12 batters she faced.
“Perez hasn't thrown in a long time. She came in and did a good job," Cheek said. "Now we have a fresh pitcher for tomorrow. Perez is a good pitcher. We really haven't had the opportunity to throw her for awhile the way things have been falling for us.”
Humboldt (48-12) will play Saint Martin's (40-14) at 11 a.m. on Saturday in the double-elimination regional. The second game will feature Grand Canyon (39-18) against UC San Diego (33-24). Humboldt and Grand Canyon will be the home teams. Saint Martin's defeated Grand Canyon 2-1.
Walker also shined on defense, making a running catch of Taylor Sepulveda's long fly and throwing a strike to catcher
Courtney Hiatt to double up Dyanna Imoto trying to score.
“I figured she was going,” Walker said. “I had to catch it kind of awkwardly, so I was thinking I was going to have to spin around and make the best throw I can make.”
It was Walker's ninth assist from the outfield this season.
“I think it was a strike from Tonya,” Cheek said. “She's done that before. And (Courtney) Hiatt did a great job putting the tag on her.”
Five Lumberjacks were named to the all-West Region team announced on Friday by the National Fastpitch Coaches Association.
Chrissy Stalf, Hiatt and Williams were named to the First Team. Obbema and Randall were named to the Second Team.
