Oregon State
San Diego
Oregon State Keeps Rolling; Tallies Two More Wins in San Diego
February 18, 2012 | Softball
Feb. 18, 2012
OSU 3 ND 2 Box Score 
| OSU 7 USD 2 Box Score
SAN DIEGO, Calif. - Marina Demore tossed another complete-game gem and Ya Garcia notched her first career walk-off hit, helping set the tone for a Beaver softball squad that earned two wins on the second day of the Campbell/Cartier Classic in San Diego. Oregon State squeaked by Notre Dame, 3-2, on Saturday morning before cruising by tournament co-host San Diego later in the afternoon, 7-2.
With the victories, OSU upped its record to 6-3 on the young season. The Beavers have now won four of their last five games.
"It was nice to see finally see a one-run game go our way," Head Coach Kirk Walker said of the win against Notre Dame. "Ya came up with a huge hit and Marina battled on each and every pitch to help us get the `W' over a team picked by many to be one of the best in its conference. We will gladly take that result."
With the score knotted up at two runs apiece heading into the bottom of the seventh inning, Lea Cavestany struck out swinging, but alertly dashed down the line when the catcher mishandled the ball, beating the throw to give the Beavers some life. Ally Kutz adeptly moved Cavestany into scoring position with a textbook sacrifice bunt to bring Garcia to the plate with two outs.
The freshman, showing maturity beyond her years, remained unfazed despite falling behind in the count, 1-2. A calm Garcia smoked the next offering down the right-field line, allowing Cavestany to round third base, beat the desperate throw home and earn the dramatic victory.
"Those are the kinds of games we need to win and the kinds of at-bats we need to have to achieve our goals this year," Walker said. "We never got down, never gave up and our perseverance and determination was rewarded."
Garcia would have never had the opportunity to perform her late-game heroics were it not for another big-league performance from Demore in the circle. The junior gave up only one earned run in seven innings for the win, striking out five. Notre Dame didn't even manage a hit until there were two away in the fifth. In her last three starts, Demore has allowed all of three earned runs in 20 innings (1.05 ERA) while striking out 17.
It was apparent that the momentum from the emotional win carried over into game two against San Diego, a 7-2 win. As they've done all season, the Beavers tested the Toreros defensive mettle and forced four USD errors thanks to aggressive base running and timely contact with the bats.
OSU scored twice on three San Diego blunders in the second inning and continued to grow the lead, scoring single runs in the third and fourth innings and three in the fifth. Elizabeth Santana was 2-for-4 with an RBI, becoming the second Beaver to reach double digits in that category this season (10).
In the third inning, Santana put herself into scoring position thanks to a leadoff single followed by a wild pitch, and was immediately driven home on a shot to left center off the bat of Erin Guzy, who has now reached base safely in each of the first nine games of the year.
Two innings later, Garcia legged out a single on a ground ball to the left side for her only hit of the contest, but one that upped her hitting streak to a team-high five games.
Oregon State closes out the Campbell/Cartier Classic against Central Florida at 9 a.m. tomorrow morning in what will be the first-ever match-up between the two schools.
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