TURLOCK, Calif. – An early deficit proved to be too much as the Saints' late inning rally fell short, 6-5 to CSU San Marcos, in their second game of the day at the Tournament of Champions, hosted by Stanislaus State.
 
CSU San Marcos (5-24) struck first, scoring a run in the first inning on a RBI single to left field. Starting pitcher Jessica O'Toole was unable to get out of the first inning, going 0.2 innings and leaving the bases loaded for Kim Nelson. Nelson worked out of the jam with a foul out to left field.
 
The Cougars tacked on another run in the third inning, after two lead-off singles and a fielder's choice loaded the bases with nobody out. Nelson only allowed one run in the inning, using a strikeout and two groundballs to keep the Saints within two runs.
 
The Saints' (9-12) first opportunity to score came in the third inning when a two-out single by Taylor Wolf and an error by CSUSM put Wolf in scoring position. However, the Saints grounded out of the inning.
 
Sabrina Hicks led off the fifth inning with a double to left field, followed by a walk to pinch hitter Regan Byrd, put runners on first and second and nobody out. Once again, the Saints were unable to deliver the clutch hit, recording a groundout, strikeout and fly out to end the inning.
 
In the sixth inning, CSU San Marcos added four insurance runs, coming on an error by SMU and a groundout to second, followed by a RBI single up the middle.  
 
Saint Martin's comeback attempt began in the sixth inning, with Lindsay Miller, Tessani Dixon, and Julia Lopez all singling to load the bases with nobody out. The Saints got on the board on a RBI single by Devyn Connolly, scoring L. Miller. Sabrina Hicks and Nicki DeHan followed it up with RBI singles of their own to cut the score to 6-3. However, CSU San Marcos escaped the inning with back-to-back pop ups and got Lauren Diuco out on a line out to first.
 
In their final attempt, the Saints started the seventh with a single up the middle by L. Miller. Dixon connected for her fourth home run of the season, a shot to left field, cutting the score to a one-run ball game with nobody out. The Cougars closed the door on the seventh inning rally with a pop up, strikeout and fly out to clinch the 6-5 victory.

"We struggled in game two offensively, defensively, and pitching," said head coach Jim Peterson. "We did not play a very complete game and came up short at the end."
 
The Saints resume the Tournament of Champions tomorrow, March 24, with a game against San Francisco State at 9:00 a.m. Live stats of the game will be available with links on smusaints.com.