Rallying Rams rise in second straight walk-off

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By: Evan Liu

FORT COLLINS, Colo. – How a couple of innings can change the outcome of a game.

Down 5-0 with only two innings to go, the Colorado State Rams came back once again as they have several times this season. Eight runs in the last two innings called for a walk-off for the second day in a row over the Fresno State Bulldogs in a 7-6 win.

"Peyton Allen deserves a big tip of the hat, everything she does is around the team," head coach Jen Fisher said. "She made some great plays on defense, and really this is all about a team performance."

Allen went 1-for-4 but made some great defensive plays recognized by Coach Fisher. Along those same lines, her counterpart on the other side of second base left her mark too.

Maya Matsubara was an offensive leader Saturday afternoon, going 2-for-3 with two RBI, a walk, and a couple of stellar defensive plays. She also stole her sixth base of the season way back in the first inning.

"Whoa, I didn't know I'd gone 2-for-3," Matsubara said. "We're just being in the moment, taking it all in, not thinking too much about our at-bats."

The bats needed to be alive again in this game, as it had been stated it would be a high-scoring weekend from both coaches. The Rams fell behind early, with a Fresno State three-run home run in the first inning by Juliana Wilson and the Bulldogs adding on another in the second.

It spelled an early end to Sydney Hornbuckle, who's start was short lived. She only threw 47 pitches through two innings, but her reliever did brilliantly in her place.

"We have a plan, we just had to attack the batters and work low in the zone," Giselle Bentley said. "Sydney has an amazing drop ball, but she was really working east to west. I knew when I came in I had to get outs."

Get outs she did. Bentley shut down the offense of Fresno State only giving up three hits in 4.2 innings. She had thrown three hitless innings before the sixth, with the only base runner coming on a walk.

In 66 pitches, she recorded a strikeout as well to end the fifth inning. While down five runs after six innings, Bentley knew what she had to do and made sure the Bulldogs could do no more damage in the middle to latter stages of the game.

"I knew our team was going to come back," Bentley said. "I had to pick them up, but they always pick me up too. That's what we work on. I knew my job was going to be getting outs and I did that, and I thought I executed that well."

"Giselle's been on the verge of putting it all together, and that's what we saw from her last weekend," Fisher said. "I think that outing gave her the confidence. She's really matured, looks like she's been here before, a great teammate, and worked really hard. I'm proud of her."

While offense was a steady pressure throughout Friday evening's affair, Saturday's offense all came at the beginning and end of the game. The Rams scored all eight of their runs in the final two innings, including a six-spot in the bottom of the sixth.

Before the comeback, Colorado State only had three hits to its name. Part of the rally came from Matsubara's efforts of drawing a walk and willing on the crowd throughout the comeback, but wishing it wasn't a trend.

"That would be nice, yes," she said. "That's the goal, we will certainly try to do that more tomorrow."

"I don't mind our approach, it's a tough team with several different pitchers to adjust to," Fisher said. "Of course, we'd like to adjust more quickly. We try to score first, we try to score last, and sometimes that doesn't happen. I just thought it was a matter of time."

The win over the Bulldogs moves the Rams to a 25-17 record overall, and 9-8 in the Mountain West. It also solidifies their position in third place, at the moment, over Fresno State who is now at 20-27 overall, and an even 9-9 in the conference.

Furthermore, the importance of this series has been well-documented time and time again. With the series officially going in Colorado State's direction, it also gives them the ever-important tiebreaker over the Bulldogs.

But it's not something to be watching just yet with only four games to go in the regular season.

"Like I said yesterday, I could crunch the numbers until I drive myself crazy," Fisher said. "I think we need to be playing well and play our brand, our game. We know we want to play well and feel good, handling the mental pressures of it all, just knowing we want to win."

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