Monday, March 26, 2018

PORTLAND, Ore. – Just one of two GNAC teams to achieve a 5-1 record at the Tournament of Champions last weekend, Saint Martin’s left a lasting impression among West Region opposition to earn this week’s Red Lion/GNAC Team of the Week award.

With a brief break from conference play, Saint Martin’s was one of eight GNAC teams partaking in the annual tournament, hosted by Stanislaus State in Turlock, Calif. The Saints opened its tournament slate on Friday with a 2-1 win over Azusa Pacific before seeing its ninth-inning rally fall short for a 6-5 loss to Cal State San Marcos in the nightcap.

"We played a close competitive game and were able to get the [opening] victory,” said head coach Jim Peterson. “We struggled in game two offensively, defensively, and in pitching. We did not play a very complete game and came up short at the end."

Bouncing back on Saturday, Saint Martin’s picked up a 7-4 win over San Francisco State after a trio of Saints ended the contest with two RBIs each. Saint Martin’s then went on to capture a 3-2 victory against Chaminade thanks to a Julia Lucas walk-off single in the bottom of the seventh inning.

“The [first] game was a defensive battle that went into a rain delay; we came back with really good energy," Peterson said. "Sabrina Hicks hit a big double to start the comeback [and help us] win the [second] game in the bottom of the seventh,” said Peterson.

The Saints extended its win streak to four games on Sunday when it defeated Humboldt State 10-8 in extra innings, which was fueled by a Nicki DeHan two-RBI single in the eighth. The Saints closed out the tournament with a five-run sixth inning to hand Dominican an 8-3 setback.

“We played well early in the [opening] game to get a big lead and were able to hold on for a win in extra innings," said Peterson. "Lauren Maley came in to help us with the win while DeHan had the big hit in extra innings. Offensively, our bats came alive and we had really good offense production to get us a big lead [in the nightcap]," ended Peterson.

Going 3-3 in last year’s tournament, Saint Martin’s improves to 13-12 on the season. The Saints have now won five or more games at the Tournament of Champions for the fourth time in program history. The most recent feat came when SMU went 6-1 in 2015.

Lindsay Miller was named to the All-Tournament Team after compiling eight hits for a .400 batting average. The senior also scored seven runs, stole six bases and drove in a pair of runs. Maley was also named to the All-Tournament Team as she went 5-0 in 19.2 innings pitched. She amassed a 1.82 earned run average and struck out three. Four of those appearances came in relief.

Currently 3-5 in the conference standings, the Saints resume GNAC action this weekend when they host Concordia and Western Oregon in Lacey, Wash.