College softball postseason: Knutson hurls CSUMB past Dominguez Hills
SAN MARCOS — Seeking redemption, Jordan Knutson put her teammates on her back and tossed a gem in the circle for Cal State Monterey Bay.
The freshman hurler needed just 72 pitches Thursday to tame the bats of Cal State Dominguez Hills, tossing a three-hitter as the Otters opened the NCAA Division II West Regional softball playoffs with a 4-0 win at Cal State San Marcos.
Making their first appearance in the regionals since 2022, the Otters will face top seed and host San Marcos — 9-1 winners over Hawaii-Hilo — on Friday at 10 a.m.
Champions of the California Collegiate Athletic Association, the Cougars are 51-8 on the season and 21-0 at home this year, having swept a four-game series against CSUMB earlier this year.
“Next question,” laughed CSUMB coach Emily Montanez, in regards to having faced San Marcos. “They are so well coached. They hit and pitch hit. They’ve had a pretty solid season.”
So have the Otters (33-22), who in Montanez’s second season, have improved seven games in the win column, picking up their first West Regional win in 14 years, snapping an eight-game postseason losing streak.
“I’m proud more than anything,” said Montanez, a Salinas High graduate and former St. Mary’s assistant coach. “We all understand what we’re trying to do in a sense of building the program back to the success it previously had.”
Knutson, who was tagged for three runs in two innings of relief in her last outing against Dominguez Hills in the CCAA conference tournament, was nails in the circle in improving to 13-5 in her first season at CSUMB.
The right-hander recorded just two strikeouts, but handcuffed Dominguez Hills with a variety of pitches, limiting them to a single in the second inning and two harmless hits in the fifth.
“She wanted to get back on the mound and get right into a rhythm,” Montanez said. “She did such a good job with her mindset. She set the tone. She goes right at them. She challenged them and hit her locations really well.”
Knutson was spotted a two-run lead before she threw her first pitch as former Watsonville High standout Abreanna Alba ripped her 15th home run of the season in the first inning.
“It was a blast, a no-doubter,” Montanez said. “Our hits were timely today. We’ve been talking about that. I’m excited with how we executed. We focused on the small parts of the game and celebrated them.”
Alba, who was walked twice, will go into Friday’s game hitting .378 with 60 runs batted in over 55 starts, while former North Salinas High standout Kieley Ganaden, who had one of the Otters four hits with a double, is hitting an even .400.
Execution on the base paths and at the plate pushed across a run in the second for CSUMB, while Malia Martin added a run-scoring single in the fifth.
The Otters and Dominguez Hills were no strangers to each other as conference rivals, splitting their four-game series, with CSUMB falling to them in the CCAA conference tournament.
Ironically, in the five previous meetings between the two teams, a total of 59 runs had been scored, including Dominguez Hill’s 8-6 win eight days ago.
“Every game we’ve played with them has been competitive,” Montanez said. “This was the sixth time we had seen them. We made sure we played every single pitch.”
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