SANTA CLARA, Calif. – After taking a week off, Santa Clara softball returns to the field Sat., April 5 at 12 p.m. and 2 p.m. vs. Pacific and Sun., April 6 vs. the Tigers at 12 p.m. The games will be the first for Santa Clara in the newly-formed West Coast Conference. After hosting the Santa Clara Marriott Round Robin two weeks ago, the Broncos are 4-20 on the season.
"It's exciting to be in a new conference with a notable name," said Santa Clara head coach Lisa Mize. "We're looking forward to opening up against Pacific, a team we feel that we can compete with. It's going to be a tough series but we're looking forward to the competition."
At roughly the halfway points, Mize is pleased with the progress the Broncos have made this season.
"We've done some things this season that we haven't done in the past, like winning some run-rule games," said Mize. "We've scored a fair amount of runs which was nice to see. This last tournament, we had some tight games and stayed competitive for seven innings. Our pitching was good and our defense played well. Our batters had some good at-bats as well. To see that we're progressing is really encouraging."
Stephanie Fisher leads Santa Clara with a 3.29 (24-73) batting average and has hit one home run, one triple, and six doubles. Fisher has scored eight runs and driven in 11 with one stolen base. Kelly Scribner is hitting .319 (22-69) with a team-best three home runs, seven doubles, and 10 runs scored while also driving in nine runs. Geenamarie Bonilla is tops on the team with 14 RBI. Bonilla is batting .286 (16-56) with three doubles and six runs scored while swiping two bags.
Ciara Gonzales has appeared in a team-high 18 games and had the lowest ERA on the team at 3.26. Gonzales has made seven starts and thrown two complete games to cover 58.0 innings. Jessica Turner has tossed 52.2 innings and leads the Broncos with 25 strikeouts. Turner has appeared in 15 games and made nine starts with three complete games. Brianna Rios has pitched in 11 games and made four starts. She has thrown 30.2 innings and struck out 17.
Pacific enters the week with an overall record of 11-19 and a 4-2 mark at home. The Tigers had two games rained out last week and lost their only game of the week 8-0 to No. 23 Stanford in five innings.
Taylor Petty leads the Tigers in hitting with a .365 (31-85) batting average while starting all 30 games. Petty also leads the team with 22 walks and a .495 on-base percentage. She has hit three doubles, swiped two bases, driven in 12 runs, and scored 13 runs. Bailey O'Mara has also started all 30 games and has a .333 (31-93) batting average. O'Mara has hit two home runs, one triple, and three doubles to go with 14 runs scored and 18 RBI. Cassidy Gustafson leads Pacific in home runs with four and RBI with 20. She has added one triple and two doubles while batting .267 (20-75) with nine runs scored.
Tori Shepard leads Pacific with a 3.79 ERA in 81.1 innings. She has appeared in 17 games and made 13 starts while tossing seven complete games. Shepard is 4-8 and has struck out 41 batters. Dani Bonnet has thrown a team-best 82.0 ERA with a 4.27 ERA and a 6-5 record. Bonnet has pitched in 19 games and made 11 starts with six complete games and one save. She leads the team with 55 strikeouts.