PALO ALTO – Junior lefthander Helen Peña faced only five Nevada hitters above the minimum and surrendered just four hits as the Big West Conference-champion Cal Poly softball team, which entered play at the Stanford-hosted Palo Alto Regional Saturday afternoon without an NCAA Division I Tournament victory, completed a two-game stampede through the loser’s bracket with a 6-1 triumph against the Wolf Pack at Boyd and Jill Smith Family Stadium. With the victory against Nevada, Cal Poly advanced to Sunday’s 1 p.m. championship series against eighth-seeded Stanford and must defeat the Cardinal twice to reach the Super Regional round.

 

Peña’s effort occurred just hours after sophomore lefthander Anna Cahn faced only two Portland State hitters over the minimum and yielded two hits in a complete-game, 5-0 victory that eliminated the Vikings and sent the Mustangs into the loser’s bracket final versus Nevada (40-19). The victory versus Portland State, Cal Poly’s first postseason triumph in 15 Division I seasons, also established a new program record for single-season wins.

 

Should Cal Poly prevail at 1 p.m. versus Pac-10 Conference runner-up Stanford (46-9), a second elimination matchup will follow at 3:30 p.m. Andrew Tomsky provides play-by-play detail beginning at 12:45 p.m. while Gametracker and streaming video links are also available above. Earlier Saturday, Stanford relegated Nevada to the loser’s bracket final versus Cal Poly with a 9-1, five-inning victory.

 

Cal Poly, eliminated in two games at the 2007 Provo Regional in the program’s only other NCAA Tournament appearance, led Nevada from the onset. Mustang senior left fielder Jenna Maiden opened the third by reaching on a fielding error by Nevada third baseman Sam Bias before senior second baseman Stephanie Tam drew a four-pitch walk. A groundout from senior shortstop Melissa Pura pushed the aforementioned duo into scoring position and after Cahn loaded the bases with a fielder’s choice, junior first baseman Krysten Cary dumped a base hit into short center field to score Maiden. Two batters later, senior third baseman Cristen Lee singled through the right side of the infield to plate freshman pinch runner Nicole Lund and hand the Mustangs a 2-0 lead.  

 

Cal Poly’s onslaught continued into the fourth. Another error by Bias, this time on a leadoff slap by Mustang freshman right fielder Nora Sobczak, was followed by consecutive hits from Maiden and Tam. With the bases full, Pura lined out and Cahn flew out, but Cary laced a double off the right field wall to provide Cal Poly a 5-0 lead.

 

Cal Poly capped its scoring in the fifth as Maiden singled home Rogers with one out.

 

Peña (13-5), meanwhile, retired nine of the initial 11 Wolf Pack hitters she faced, failed to yield a walk and tossed 76 percent of her 80 pitches for strikes. A one-out solo homer by Bias in the seventh stood as Peña’s only blemish.

 

Nevada 4, Cal Poly 1

No. 8 Stanford 10, Portland State 3

No. 8 Stanford 9, Nevada 1, five innings

Cal Poly 5, Portland State 0 (Portland State eliminated)

Cal Poly 6, Nevada 1 (Nevada eliminated)

Cal Poly (designated home team) versus No. 8 Stanford, 1 p.m.

No. 8 Stanford versus Cal Poly (if needed), 3:30 p.m.