Hundley, however, was dominating in the circle, striking out a school-record 15 while holding the Pioneers to just 3 hits over the course of her 8-inning work. She threw 101 pitches and was stronger at the end than she was at the beginning. In the opening frame, Cal State East Bay loaded the bases with 1 out on a walk, single and hit batsman, but that was when Hundley began to exert her will, inducing a pop out and then getting the first of her record 15 punch-outs. From there on, she allowed just 1 Pioneer to reach second base, and she closed the game by striking out 6 of the final 7 batters she faced.
Azusa Pacific scored the game’s only run with 2 out in the bottom of the eighth when pinch runner Bailey Blazek raced home from third base on a wild pitch by Pioneer pitcher Jesse Peterson. It was one of the very few mistakes by Peterson, who like Hundley, held the foe to just 3 hits in the game. She danced out of trouble in the fifth inning after the Cougars Bekah Weisser and Jen Whitten opened the inning with a walk and single up the middle, respectively. After an Erika Navarrete sacrifice moved the runners up, Peterson got Erin Halma on a sharp groundout before getting Natalie Mickelson to strike out.
The Cougars again put runners at first and second in the sixth inning but couldn’t inflict any more damage on Peterson. In fact, the Cougars scored the game-winning run without the benefit of a hit.
Hundley has now gone 14 innings without giving up a run while striking out 21 in the process. She squares her record at 2-2 on the season.
Halma, who was coming off her own shutout effort in Thursday’s victory over Holy Names University, picked up right where Hundley left off in the pitcher’s circle, blanking Cal State East Bay over the first 2 innings, which included striking out the side in the second.
However, the Pioneers finally tagged Halma for 2 runs with 4 consecutive 2-out singles, including 3 that never left the infield.
Azusa Pacific cut the deficit in half in the bottom of the sixth with Mickelson’s 2-out single up the middle that scored Whitten from third. After the Pioneers added an insurance run in the top of the seventh, the Cougars went down in order to close out the game.
On the day, Azusa Pacific managed just 7 hits, and Whitten had 4 of them, going 4-for-7 to up her season batting average to .343.
With the split the Cougars move to 6-4 on the season as they prepare to head to Medford, Ore., for 4 games next weekend.
