MELISSA MARTINEZ
STAFF WRITER

CSUSM’s last home softball games ended on a high note as the women’s softball team took two consecutive wins on Sunday’s doubleheader of 8-0 and an impressive 19-0 against La Sierra University.

Other than locking in their #2 rank position, the game was more than a victory for the Lady Cougars as they played their last two home games with seniors Theresa Houle, Alyssa Dronenburg and Alicia Ingram.

The Cougars were in high spirits as they took their first victory of the day, making it their 10th consecutive win of the season. The first game ended on a roar as Houle hit her 15th home run of the season and freshman Jessica Guillen closed the victory in the 5th inning, bumping up the score to a solid 8-0.

After honoring the three graduating seniors, The Cougars started game two with a bang, clocking in a score of 5-0 by the 1st inning.

As the team stole base after base, the score climbed and hit an incredible 18-0 by the end of the second inning, pushing Houle and Dronenburg into the top 5 players of the NAIA and giving them their 16th (Houle) and 15th (Dronenburg) home runs of the season.

Freshmen Kimberle Smith and Olivia Lucatuorto both made 3 hits, giving them a total of 6 doubles throughout the game. Freshman Katie Wilkinson was named the winning pitcher for her performance in game 2.

April 15 marked the last home game of the season however, the Lady Cougars aren’t finished yet. They will take their 42-3 record to Northern California to play three more doubleheaders April 21-23, to close the season and then head to Columbus, GA to participate in the A.I.I. Conference Championships May 3-5.

Although the 2012 season of women’s softball is coming to a close, this won’t be the end of the game for some seniors.

Alyssa Dronenburg is one of two Americans recruited to play for UVV Utrecht, a professional team in Netherlands. Dronenburg’s batting coach, Jim Burney, spoke of her technique saying, “Through the years, everyone wanted to change Alyssa’s batting style, but she’s managed to maintain her own. When coaches wanted her to change, she always went back to what she can do, and look at her now.”