UCSD Softball Team Set for Division II Championship

The UC San Diego softball team will make  its first-ever  appearance in the NCAA Division II Softball Championship in Salem, VA, on Thursday when it takes on East Region Champion  C.W. Post at 9 a.m. in the first  game of the eight-team tournament that runs May 26-30.

The Tritons (41-13) won the NCAA Division II West Regional on Saturday when they erupted for three runs in its final at-bat, using a two-run single from Tess Granath and an RBI single by Jennifer De Fazio to edge Cal State San Bernardino, 3-1.

Camille Gaito (31-4) got the victory, her fifth of the NCAA tournament, and tied the school record for career wins (61) by a pitcher.  She gave up just a  single run in each of her five starts while posting a 0.54 ERA and limiting opposing hitters to just a .196 average.

For UCSD, Saturday’s last-inning heroics marked the fourth time in five games that the Tritons scored the deciding runs in their final at-bat. In the first  ound on May 13, UCSD used back-to-back squeeze bunts in the bottom half of the sixth inning to edge Central Washington, 2-1. The next day, De Fazio laced a two-run single in the top of the 11th, the difference in a 3-1 win over Chico State. Sepulveda squeezed home Gabriel for the game-winner in a 2-1 win over CSUC on May 16 in the West Region 1 title game.

On Friday, the Tritons had beaten Cal State San Bernardino 3-1, with Gaito becoming UCSD’s first pitcher to win 30 games in a single season. She struck out eight and allowed just five hits.

Last week Gaito was named the 2011 Daktronics, Inc. West Region Pitcher of the Year. She also earned All-West Region First Team accolades. Kris Lesovsky and Jennifer Manuel earned All-West Region Second Team honors.

In addition to UCSD and Long Island's C.W. Post, the other six teams competing in the NCAA tournament are Saginaw Valley State, Indiana (PA), Minnesota State-Mankato, Alabama-Huntsville, North Georgia and Midwestern State.
 
BASEBALL

The sixth-ranked UC San Diego baseball team saw its bid for a third straight trip to the College World Series come to an end last  Saturday, as the top-seeded Tritons lost a hard-fought 6-5 decision to No. 3 seed Cal Poly Pomona in the losers bracket final of the NCAA Division II West Regional at Triton Ballpark. 

The Tritons rallied from a three-run deficit to tie the game in the seventh and eighth innings, but the Broncos' Tyson Edwards hit a sacrifice fly to drive in the go-ahead run in the bottom of the eighth and CPP held on for the win. 

UCSD, the two-time defending West Regional champion, saw its season come to a close at 42-15.
 
No. 4 seed Sonoma State won the regional title beating third-seeded Cal Poly Pomona 8-5 in the championship game Sunday and will advance to the NCAA Championship Finals May 28-June 4 in Cary, NC. Cal Poly Pomona had forced a second and deciding game for the West Regional title by beating Sonoma State 5-4 Saturday night.

Sonoma had put UCSD into the loser’s bracket in an opening-round game Thursday by shutting out the Tritons 4-0.
 
Triton senior ace Tim Shibuya (11-4)  took the loss, allowing four runs, three earned, on eight hits in eight innings of work. He finished with 10 strikeouts, one short of his career-high. It was Shibuya's first loss since April 8 when he suffered a 5-1 setback, also against Sonoma State.
 
Outfielders Aaron Bauman and Kyle Saul  had two hits apiece for UCSD. The last time the Tritons had failed to score a run was on April 5, 2008, at Cal State Stanislaus.
 
On Friday Bauman had three hits and drove in two runs and Guido Knudson  went the distance to as UC San Diego beat second-seeded Western Oregon 6-3 in an elimination game.
 
Leadoff man Danny Susford finished 2-for-4 with an RBI, while Evan Kehoe and Kellen Lee also drove in runs for the Tritons.

Knudson (9-3) was brilliant on the mound for the Tritons, limiting the Wolves to just three runs on six hits in a complete nine innings of work. The senior right-hander held WOU without a hit over the final four innings and allowed just one base runner over that span. He finished with five strikeouts and walked just one. It was Knudson's third complete game this season and the seventh of his career.

Kyle Jones, a center fielder from Sonoma State,  won the West Regional Most Outstanding Player award after batting .583 (7-12) with a .917 slugging and .706 on-base percentage. He totaled six runs scored, five RBI, a double, a home run and five walks over four games.

UCSD’s outfielder Bauman and third baseman Evan Kehoe were named to the all-tournament team.

TRITON BASEBALL HONORS

UC San Diego’s Tim Shibuya was named Pitcher of the Year and Dan O’Brien was tabbed Co-Coach of the Year as the National Baseball Writers Association (NCBWA) announced its All-West Region selections last week.

The sixth-ranked Tritons placed five players on all-region teams, which included three first-teamers, more than any other program.
 
Selected to the NCBWA All-West Region First Team were Shibuya, sophomore outfielder Danny Susdorf and senior utility player Blake Tagmyer. Picking up second team honors was junior relief pitcher Elias Tuma, and senior third baseman Evan Kehoe earned an honorable mention nod.
 
Shibuya, a senior right-hander, is a three-time member of the NCBWA All-West Region First Team. Breaking school records for career wins, innings pitched and strikeouts this season, Shibuya went 11-4 with a 2.02 ERA.
 
O'Brien, the NCBWA National Coach of the Year in 2009 and 2010, was recently named the CCAA Coach of the Year. He shares this year's West Region award with Cal Poly Pomona's Randy Betten.
 
It was the first career All-West selection for Susdorf, Tagmyer and Tuma. Kehoe was named to the NCBWA All-West Second Team in 2008.
 
Senior outfielder Travis Taijeron, also from Cal Poly Pomona, was named the NCBWA West Region Player of the Year.
 
TRACK & FIELD

Eleven UC San Diego athletes, nine women and two men, will compete in the 2011 NCAA Division II Track and Field Championships that will be held Thursday through Saturday at the Al Brenda Track Complex on the campus of Cal State Stanislaus in Turlock.
 
The select group of Tritons qualified for nationals by reaching the automatic and provisional standards established for each event. UCSD will have representatives in a combined 11 events during the championships.
 
After claiming Field Athlete of the Meet honors at the California Collegiate Athletic Association Championships in Turlock earlier this month, senior Stephanie LeFever will represent the Tritons in a total of three events at the national level. The Aptos native will take part in the long jump, triple jump and heptathlon.
 
LeFever is the second seed in the heptathlon after scoring a total of 5,282 points en route to a CCAA title two weeks ago. She is seeded third in the long jump with a school-record mark of 20'1", while her mark of 39'3" ranks 17th in the triple jump.
 
Senior Kelly Fogarty will potentially compete in three events as well, as she qualified in the 100 and 200-meter dashes, as well as the 4x400 relay. She set the school record in both sprint events at the Cal/Nevada Collegiate Championships in March, clocking in at 11.52 in the 100 and 23.56 in the 200. She is seeded third and fourth in the two events, respectively.
 
Joining Fogarty in the 4x400 will be Lauren Irish, Jacqueline Rose, Caitlin Meagher and Deyna Roberson, with Irish, Rose, Meagher and Roberson likely to run in the prelims in Turlock. UCSD earned a No. 9 seed in the event after Irish, Rose, Meagher and Fogarty posted a time of 3:45.99 at the Sun Angel Track and Field Classic in Tempe in April.
 
Meagher will also compete in the 400 hurdles after her time of 1:01.2 was good enough for the 17th and final seed in the event.
 
Danielle Thu will be looking to capture her second career NCAA Championship in the women's hammer throw after winning the event with a school-record toss of 198'8" in 2009. A redshirt senior this season, she is seeded second with a mark of 197'1".
 
Theresa Richards and Jessica Miklaski will also be making the trip and both will compete in the women's javelin. Richards is the seventh seed with a mark of 145'11", while Miklaski is ranked 17th at 136'1".
 
On the men's side, junior Nick Howe will look to defend his national title in the javelin after capturing the top spot on the podium with a toss of 225' in Charlotte in 2010. He enters this year's competition as the third seed after uncorking a throw of 222'2" at the Cal/Nevada Championships.
 
Senior Jesse Morrill will also represent the Triton men in Turlock, competing in the 3,000-meter steeplechase. The Huntington Beach native is seeded 13th after winning a CCAA Championship with a time of 9:03.19 earlier this month.
 
The National Championships will be streamed live on NCAA.com each day and highlights will be shown on CBS HD at 1 p.m. Sunday, June 19.

GOLF

UC San Diego's Keith Okasaki carded an 81 in the third round of the 2011 NCAA Division II Men's Golf Championship last  Wednesday in Florence, AL  and wrapped up the three-day event with a final tally of 21-over-par 237.
 
After carding rounds of 80 and 76 on the first two days at the Robert Trent Jones at the Shoals Course, Okasaki shot 9-over in round three and finished in a three-way tie for 83rd place.
 
Chico State's Kyle Souza and Lynn University's Daniel Young finished in a tie for first place at 4-under 212 after three rounds. Souza fired his second consecutive 71 on Wednesday, while Young carded a 69. Souza went on to win the playoff with a 3 on the third hole.
 
The NCAA championships mark the final tournament in an impressive career for Okasaki. The senior from Sacramento leaves the program after leading the squad in both rounds played and stroke average each of the last three seasons.

He recorded the lowest tournament finish of his career at the NCAA Central/West Regional in Albuquerque two weeks ago after finishing tied for fifth place.
 
Head coach Mike Wydra will lose just two seniors to graduation this season and welcome back a total of seven letterwinners in 2011-12. Four of the five players that represented UCSD at the CCAA Championships in April will return next season.

--Compiled from press releases issued by the UCSD sports information office