the Echo
Page 12 – SPORTS
February 29, 2012
Regals are heading to the big dance R
obert Ambrose Staff Writer
It was an historic weekend for the Regals basketball team. On Thursday, Feb. 23 they defeated Occidental 51-49 in the SCIAC tournament semifinals and then defeated rival Redlands 61-58 two days later on Saturday, Feb. 25 in the SCIAC championship game to advance to the NCAA Division III tournament. “It feels absolutely amazing to clinch the SCIAC championship,” said senior Chelsey Hastigan. “There is so much talent in the SCIAC conference and there are no words to describe how it feels to finish on top.” The win sealed the program’s eighth SCIAC championship and first since 2006. “Ever since I was a little kid, I’ve dreamed of playing college basketball,” said senior Meaghan Goodenough. “I worked so hard to just play at this level, and to think we won SCIAC and are going to the tournament. When the buzzer finally went off, I just thought this is a dream come true.” The story book season really started writing itself when senior Shana Moore’s buzzer beater advanced the Regals to the SCIAC tournament. “It is one of the coolest things to be able to be a part of March Madness and to follow the footsteps of the football and volleyball teams this year,” said Moore. Both games came right down to the final play and the Regals had to make several clutch shots and defensive stops to pull each game off. “So many games this season came to the last play and being
Photos by Danika Briggs - Staff Photographer
The Big Dance: Above, the Regals come together for a chant just before their last home game of the season begins. Right, junior Erica Whitley pulls up for a three pointer, as Regals advance to the NCAA tournament. able to pull out the two most important games of the season was phenomenal,” said Moore. The Regals led by 15 against Occidental. The Tigers battled back going on a 25-8 run over a 14 minute span to take a 44-42 lead with 4:20 remaining. Trailing 49-44 with 2:30 remaining, the Regals had their backs against the wall trying to fight off elimination. Junior Erica Whitley hit a three to cut the Tigers’ lead to two. The Regals then needed a stop on defense and forced a turnover. Whitley made a pair of free throws on the next offensive possession to tie the game at 49 and then became the hero when she made the game winning layup as time expired to put the Regals into the championship
game. “When I made that final drive, I did not know if I was going to take it all the way or end up dishing it out,” said Whitley. “It just happened to be my instinct that made me take the layup option.” She finished the game with 21 points including the final 12 points of the game for the Regals. It was the second time the Regals had beaten the Tigers in the season and the Regals are the only SCIAC team to have defeated the Tigers all year. “I honestly did not know I had the final 12 points until my friends told me,” Whitley said. “At that moment, I just wanted to win. Beating Oxy is a good feeling. They are a great team
and they have a great demeanor which I respect.” Whitley came up big again against Redlands, hitting three clutch free throws in the closing seconds of the game. Hastigan led all scores for the Regals with 16 points including going 4-8 from beyond the arc. She also hit a clutch three that helped keep the Regals on top down the stretch. The Regals were able to get a lot of help from their bench, outscoring the Bulldogs’ bench 25-12. The victory was clinched on a
defensive stop when Redlands’ Ashley Sevilla missed a potential game tying three that would have forced overtime. The celebration was on. “This team has overcome obstacles all season and we plan on continuing our success in the NCAA tournament,” Hastigan said. The Regals will play the first round game of the NCAA tournament on Friday, March 2 in Oregon against the No. 3 George Fox Bruins. The Regals lost to the Bruins back on Nov. 27, 2011.
Kingsmen get back to their winning ways at home S
tephen Johnson Staff Writer
In the Saturday, Feb. 25 double header against Pomona-Pitzer, Trevor Koons provided a walk off single in the first game of the day while Nick DeLorenzo drove in all three Kingsmen runs in the second game to give CLU the series over the Sagehens, and put the Kingsmen back on the winning track. Last week, the baseball team traveled to Anthem, Ariz. to play four games in the Arizona Desert Classic. The team went 2-2 in the tournament with a blowout victory over Sul Ross State 180. Garrett Smith, Nick Boggan and Mike Vinyard drove in 10 of CLU’s 18 runs. The Kingsmen were then held scoreless in their matchup against Concordia, Texas, losing 5-0 as Concordia starting pitcher Scott Hays threw seven scoreless innings with seven strikeouts. The Kingsmen rebounded with another lopsided 14-6 victory over Whitman University.
Pitchers Chris Park and Tyler Hebda were nearly unhittable over the last five innings of the game, not allowing a run after the fourth inning. The Kingsmen’s last game of the tournament was a 3-2 pitching duel in which the Kingsmen came out on the short end, losing to No. 4 Linfield University. While pitchers John LaMoure and Byron Minnich only allowed five hits against Linfield’s offense, the Kingsmen could not capitalize on their scoring chances, going 1-for-10 in the game with runners in scoring position. The Kingsmen offensive struggles continued in their first game against Pomona-Pitzer, as they were shut out on the road in a 3-0 loss. Sagehens’ starting pitcher Travis Rooke-Ley went the distance, pitching a nine-inning shut out, only allowing five hits. The first game of Saturday’s double-header against the Sagehens ended in dramatic fashion.
With the score tied 4-4 going into the eighth inning, the Sagehens led off the inning with a Mike Moyer single. With Moyer on third and two outs, Coleman Lukas hit a groundball to the shortstop Koons. A wide throw by Koons to first base pulled Boggan off the bag but was still able to tag the runner extending towards the base. There was a long moment of confusion for the umpires as no call was made on the apparent tag. As a surprise to both teams, the first base umpire ruled the runner safe at first. Coleman, fixed between first and second when the call was finally made, was caught in a rundown long enough for Moyer to score from third, giving the Sagehens a highly controversial 5-4 lead. “Nothing like that has ever happened to us before,” said Koons. “It was a confusing situation but there’s nothing you can do but get past it.” With the Kingsmen trailing 5-4 going into the bottom of
the ninth, a pair of walks to Nicho DellaValle and Vinyard as well as a single by Iggy Wagner loaded the bases for Koons with two outs. The home crowd was up on their feet cheering. A passed ball by the Sagehens scored DellaValle from third to tie the game at five all. On a 1-1 pitch, Koons drove a single past the third basemen, scoring Wagner and giving the Kingsmen the walk-off victory. “When we were down one, I was thinking, ‘I have to drive the ball to the gap,’” said Koons. “Once the run scored, I relaxed a bit. I was looking middle-away and was just looking to punch somewhere to get a single.” The Kingsmen earned their second victory of the day, defeating the Sagehens 3-2 thanks to outstanding performances from DeLorenzo and Hebda. DeLorenzo’s two out, two-run single in the third inning tied the game and his solo home run in the sixth eventually proved to be the game winning run.
“I was looking for the fastball away, but the changeup hung over the middle of the plate,” said DeLorenzo. “I was able to get a good piece of and it went out.” DeLorenzo went a combined 5-7 with four runs batted in over the two games. Hebda entered the game in the fifth inning, relieving starter John LaMoure to get the final out of the inning and preserve a 2-2 tie. Hebda allowed no runs and only three hits over the next four innings to give him his first victory of the season and allowed the Kingsmen to take two of three games from the Sagehens. “Getting two out of three is huge,” said DeLorenzo. “It looks like the SCIAC will be anybody’s ballgame. There is no frontrunner so we just have to keep playing good baseball.” Cal Lutheran (8-4, 4-2 SCIAC) will host Whittier (8-5, 4-2 SCIAC) in the opening of a three game series starting on Friday, March 2 at 2:30 p.m.