On May 20, Sacramento State softball players will be finishing up final exams and preparing for summer vacation while Loyola Marymount will be at the NCAA Regionals.

The Lions earned the trip by clinching their second Pacific Coast Softball Conference championship in the past three years with a 4-3 win over the Hornets on Saturday afternoon at Shea Stadium. LMU also won the nightcap of the doubleheader, 4-0.

“We’re elated,” LMU coach Gary Ferrin said. “This is the first time our school has been to Regionals so we’re excited.”

Sac State senior pitcher Brianne Ferguson — making one of her final starts as a Hornet — set a new career-high in strikeouts with 14 but a Casie Phillips bloop single, just making the outfield grass, scored Margo Pineda breaking a 3-3 tie in the top of the seventh inning was the difference.

“I was actually very happy with my performance,” Ferguson said. “I was aware I was getting more strikeouts than normal, but I didn’t know just how many until afterward.”

Sac State trailed 3-0 in the bottom of the fifth inning until a two-out rally tied the game up. After two quick outs Hornet right fielder Hilary Johnson slapped a single that bounced over LMU third baseman Danielle Kaminaka’s head and was driven in two batters later on a Lindy Winkler RBI single to center field.

Gloria Toledo followed with a single to right field scoring Lesley Mayhorn, who had bunted her way on base between Johnson and Winkler. The fifth-consecutive single — and final of the inning for Sac State — came off the bat of Amy Hillel as she bounced a pitch high off the infield dirt and beat it out, scoring Winkler.

It was a Winkler error that gave LMU the three-run advantage to begin with. With two outs in the third inning, Winkler dropped a fly ball while she was on the run, which allowed Bassett and Kaminaka to score.

Kaminaka scored the game’s first run on a Caylin Hornish single after she walked and stole second base. Kaminaka stole second base off of Ferguson and catcher Joanna O’Neill in the fifth inning as well. Four-year starting catcher Erin Coyne did not play on Saturday as she suffered a career-ending knee injury last weekend at Portland State.

“There are some things in this game I can’t explain and us giving up a stolen base is one of them,” Hornet coach Kathy Strahan said. “We’re better than that.”

“It’s really fitting that this came down to the final weekend and a one-run game,” Ferrin said. “It wouldn’t have been nearly as fun if it had been decided and we had to just come out and play.”

The Lions took the second game 2-0 behind seven innings of solid work from pitcher Tiffany Pagano who allowed just four hits and surrendered one walk.

Hornet pitcher gave up nine hits including a two-run homer to Kaminaka in the third inning for the first runs of the game. LMU got two more runs in the top of the seventh on RBI singles from Pineda and Kaminaka.

“The difference between us and other teams in the conference is our power,” Ferrin said. “We can change the game with one swing.”

The Lions and Hornets return to Shea Stadium tomorrow at noon to close out their seasons. Sac State will honor its seniors prior to the games, as Mayhorn, Ferguson, Hillel, Coyne and Jessica Rojo will appear for the final time as Hornets at Shea Stadium.

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John Parker can be reached at [email protected]