SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Kicking-off the Santa Clara Marriott Round Robin, Santa Clara softball lost to Princeton by a final of 6-1. The Broncos are now 4-17 on the season while the Tigers are now 5-11.
Santa Clara returns to the field tomorrow, Sat., March 22 at 12 p.m. vs. Grand Canyon.
Jessica Turner (2-7) started for Santa Clara and picked up a loss in 5.0 innings. Turner allowed six runs, one earned, on seven hits with three walks and four strikeouts. Breezy Bernard was 2-3 to lead the offense. Stephanie Fisher was 2-4 with a run scored while Chiara Biagini had a walk and an RBI.
Erica Nori (3-2) started for Princeton and picked up a win in the complete game. Nori allowed one unearned run on four hits with three walks and three strikeouts. Sarah McGowan was 2-2 with a double and three RBI to lead the offense. Danielle Allen was 2-3 with a double, a walk, and two runs scored while Libby Crowe was 2-3 with an RBI.
Rachel Rendina led off the game with a walk and moved up to second on a sacrifice bunt. With two down Cara Worden hit a fly to left that was dropped to allow Princeton to take an early 1-0 lead.
Allen hit an infield single and Kate Miller worked a walk to put two on to start the top of the second for the Tigers. McGowan laid down a sacrifice bunt but reached when the attempt to get the lead runner was late. Crowe blooped an RBI single to right to keep the bases loaded for the top of the order with no outs. Jordan Newell made a beautiful diving catch in foul territory for the first out of the inning but a passed ball let another run come in. Turner came back with back-to-back strikeouts to end the inning with the score 3-0.
Fisher led off the bottom of the fourth with a bunt single for the first Santa Clara base runner of the day. After the first out was recorded, Kelly Scribner hit a tailor-made double play ball to shortstop but an error on the second baseman let both runners reach safely. With two down, Bernard loaded the bases with a single to right and Biagini walked to bring in the first run of the day for Santa Clara that made the score 3-1.
With one out in the top of the fifth, Allen worked a long at-bat for a walk to load the bases. McGowan cleared the bases with a double to left-center with two outs to make the score 6-1.
In the bottom of the seventh Cassandra Padilla walked with two down and moved to third on a single to center by Fisher but a fielder's choice ended the game.