Sweep prevents 'Dogs from clinching

Tulsa's doubleheader sweep prevents the Bulldogs from clinching the WAC title

By Zack Walton

Fresno State entered Saturday’s doubleheader one victory shy of clinching the Western Athletic Conference title, but that chance vanished with one swing of a Hurricane bat.

Even after losing the first game 7-1, the Bulldogs were only five outs away from their seventh WAC title in nine years when Tulsa’s Lindsay Galloway belted a 1-2 pitch from Laura Ferreira for a grand slam in game two, snatching the 4-2 lead and eventual final.

Ferreira never would have made the “misplaced” pitch, as Bulldogs coach Margie Wright called it, if not for two Bulldogs errors that loaded the bases.

Tulsa’s Kelly Miller, the conference’s leading hitter with a .434 batting average coming into the day, reached base on an error by Bulldogs All-American Christina Clark to lead off the inning. After a walk and an error by third basemen Veronica Green, the Golden Hurricane had the bases loaded with one out.

Galloway then took the offering from Ferreira over the wall in center field.

“ We didn’t play really well the entire game,” Wright said. “And when that happens it doesn’t take much to change the momentum of the game.”

Fresno State entered the doubleheader with a 10-game winning streak in conference games and Wright said the Bulldogs’ performance was unexpected.

“ Anytime you don’t play well it’s surprising,” Wright said. “When you do well for an extended period of time you are going to have letdowns. You just hope when it happens you’re playing well enough to overcome the problems.”

Clark knocked in the Bulldogs’ only run of the first game with a sixth-inning single to score Rachel Donaldson. The Bulldogs had just three hits in the game.

Fresno State never led in game one, as starting pitcher Lori Hoffman gave up seven runs (six earned) in five and one-third innings of work.

The Bulldogs may continue to have problems if two-time All-American Jamie Southern, who is 28-5 with a 0.42 earned run average, doesn’t pitch again soon. But Wright hinted at the possibility of Southern returning to the circle next week in the team’s final WAC series at Nevada.

“ [Southern] is getting stronger everyday during workouts,” Wright said. “There is a very good chance she will pitch next week.”

Southern, who hasn’t pitched since giving up five runs on nine hits April 17 against San Jose State, would return to help a staff that struggled Saturday, especially in the sixth inning—allowing six runs in the first game and four in the finale.

The two Fresno State losses leave Tulsa (43-17, 14-5 WAC) with an outside chance of claiming a share of the WAC title, although the Golden Hurricane would need to win all the remaining games on the schedule and have Fresno State (46-17, 19-3) lose its last two.

If that were to occur, Tulsa would still be one-half game behind the Bulldogs due to a rainout against Louisiana Tech—requiring the two teams to make up the postponement.