Mercifully, seniors go out in style with sweep of Dallas

ORANGE, Calif. – The Chapman University softball team wrapped the season with a pair of mercy rule victories 9-1 and 9-1 over visiting University of Dallas at El Camino Real Park on Saturday. The Panthers’ victories put an exclamation point on an equally festive day where Chapman and the City of Orange celebrated the official grand re-opening of El Camino Real Park, followed by a ceremony for five Panthers seniors playing in the final games of their careers.

Those five seniors – Vanessa Goncalves, Ally Waffle, Dani Brown, Stevi Jo Lockwood and Melanie Villarroel – went out in style, combining to go 8-for-19 (.421) in the doubleheader and earned both victories on the mound. The Panthers snapped their school-record nine-game losing streak.

Game 1: Chapman 9, Dallas 1
Opening up the series, Goncalves tossed a five-hitter with a career-high 11 strikeouts to earn her fourth win of the year and 16th of her career.

Chapman snapped a 1-1 tie with a rally in the fifth, scoring five runs in the inning. The big blow for the Panthers came on a two-run home run from sophomore DP Jayme Jarvis. Jarvis’ blast to left-center was Chapman’s first-ever in its new ballpark. Sophomore C Michelle Pitts also had an RBI single in the inning and Brown followed with the second of her two sacrifice flies in the game.

Chapman added a few insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth as Pitts drove in two runs with a single and the Panthers earned the ‘run-rule’ win with their ninth run of the game on a bases-loaded walk.

Villarroel continued her torrid hitting pace going 3-for-4 with a pair of runs scored, making her 9-for-12 over the past three games.

Game 2: Chapman 9, Dallas 1
Trailing 1-0 in the third inning, Chapman rallied for a pair of runs and then broke it wide open with a seven-run fourth inning. Sophomore OF Jojo Wakabayashi tied the game by taking advantage of the spacious outfield at El Camino and hit an inside-the-park home run to center. Pitts followed three batters later with an RBI single and Chapman stepped ahead of Dallas 2-1.

Looking for more insurance runs in the bottom of the fourth, the Panthers loaded the bases with one out on singles from Goncalves (who went 2-for-2), Lockwood (a hit in her first career start) and junior IF Laura Alexander. Wakabayashi followed with a fourth straight single to score a run and then sophomore OF Andrena Calix drew a run-scoring walk. Chapman then capitalized on a pair of Dallas errors to score five more unearned runs. Brown singled to center, driving in two of those runs to end the scoring and giving the Panthers a 9-1 lead.

The runs support was more than enough for Waffle who won her team-leading seventh game of the season, scattering nine hits and allowing just one earned run in the final game of her career.

Villarroel went 1-for-3 and scored a pair of runs. She finished as the Panthers’ leading hitter with a career-high .363 average while starting in all 36 games for Chapman.

by Doug Aiken & Nicole Inal
Sports Information Director & Sports Information Intern

Boxscores:
Game 1: http://www.chapmanathletics.com/sports/sball/2009-10/stats/ud-cu1.htm
Game 2: http://www.chapmanathletics.com/sports/sball/2009-10/stats/ud-cu2.htm