Big fifth inning powers Pintos past Russellville

California was unable to get a base hit in five of six innings at the plate on Thursday.
Fortunately for the Pintos, they only needed one inning, the bottom of the fifth, to do all their damage offensively in a 5-4 victory over Russellville.
Trailing 2-0 midway through the fifth, California catcher Hannah Hill drew a leadoff walk and Kaitlyn Turner singled in the very next at-bat to give the Pintos their first hit and RBI of the game.
California got three more singles in the inning from Braleigh Johnson, Kendra Dunham and Jenna Berendzen to bat around, and that was enough run support for Turner, who went the distance on the mound to earn the win.
"I'm proud of the way the girls battled back," California head coach Darrell Bolin said. "We put up those five runs in the fifth and kind of got (Russellville) rattled and got smart baserunning. We just hung on."
California needed every one of its five runs to bury Russellville. Trailing 5-2 in the last inning, the Indians got a double from Ally Harris, who came around to score in the ensuing at-bat.
Russellville also scratched out a second run in the inning thanks to some aggressive baserunning. With two outs in the seventh, the Indians sent the game-tying run to the plate, but Turner shut the rally down with her fourth strikeout of the game.
In addition to ringing up four, Turner finished the game with three earned runs, three walks and seven hits allowed.
"(Kaitlyn) was outstanding," Bolin said. "She put the ball where it needed to be. She kept it low and in the strike zone and didn't get anything elevated. Russellville's a hard-hitting team and I'm very proud of her performance.
Turner induced the Russellville hitters into a lot of ground balls, which wasn't a problem for Johnson at shortstop. The junior recorded seven putouts, which included an unassisted double play in the third inning and a diving stop to save a run in the fourth.
"(Braleigh) can be a phenomenal player," Bolin said. "She's really good at her position. She did save at least one run, if not two or three throughout the game. She played an outstanding game on defense."
Russellville got another strong pitching performance from freshman Hannah Malzner, who threw four innings of no-hit ball before the Pintos broke through in the fifth. Pitching just three days after earning a complete game win at Jamestown, Malzner's final line for Thursday was four earned runs on four hits and four walks with five strikeouts.
Offensively, Russellville's hot start against the Pintos was in large part thanks to seniors McKendra Fischer and Libby Mueller. Fischer had two hits and two RBI, while Mueller went 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored.