Softball splits a pair on first day of Sun West Tournament

ANAHEIM, Calif. - The Chapman University softball team split a pair of games on the first day of the Sun West Tournament at Peralta Park on Monday. The Panthers defeated Grinnell College (Iowa) 8-1 in their opener, but fell 6-0 to No. 12 Tufts University (Mass.).

Game 1: Chapman 8, Grinnell 1
Back-to-back home runs by juniors SheaLynn Slover and Dani Brown snapped a scoreless tie with two outs in the fourth inning. The Panthers promptly opened the flood gates with another run in the fifth, three in the sixth and two more in the seventh to win their third consecutive game for the first time this year.

That provided more than enough run support for junior RHP Katie Finley, who tossed a complete game five-hitter with 13 strikeouts. The complete game was her third of the year and she earned her team-best fourth victory of the season.

Slover finished the game 3-for-4 with a double, homer and two runs scored. Chapman's table-setters: senior OF Erin Dudzinski and freshman OF Jojo Wakabayashi each had a pair of hits for the Panthers, who had double digits in hits for the fourth time in their past five games.

Game 2: Tufts 6, Chapman 0
A Panther offense that had out-scored its opponents 26-3 during its three-game winning streak was stopped cold. Chapman (8-10) was held to just four hits - all singles - and was shutout for the fourth time this year.

Tufts - ranked No. 12 in Division III - pounded 12 hits and six runs in the first four-plus innings, but Finley came out of the bullpen to hold the Jumbos in check. The right-hander limited Tufts to just three hits over three shutout innings and struck out four.

Game 1 Box: http://www.chapmanathletics.com/sports/sball/2008-09/stats/cu-gri.htm 
Game 2 Box: http://www.chapmanathletics.com/sports/sball/2008-09/stats/tuf-cu.htm