SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Playing their first ranked opponent of the season, Santa Clara softball fell to No. 17 Washington by a final of 11-2 and beat Howard 10-1 in five innings. The Broncos are now 5-13 on the season.
Santa Clara returns to the field tomorrow, Sun., March 1 at 12:15 p.m. vs. Washington.
"When you play the No. 17 team in the country you can't give them extra outs. If you take away the extra outs we gave them today, we're in the game," said Santa Clara head coach Lisa Mize. "In our second game it was nice to get the offense going again and score a lot of runs."
Game 1
Briana Rios (0-5) started for Santa Clara and picked up a loss in 4.0-plus innings. Rios allowed five runs, four earned, on six hits with three walks and a strikeout. Gianetta France was 3-4 with a home run and two runs scored to lead the offense. Jordan Newell was 1-3 with an RBI while Ellie Fisher was 2-2 with two walks and two stolen bases.
Kasey Stanchek (5-2) started for Washington and picked up a win in 6.1 innings. Stanchek allowed two runs on eight hits with two walks and one strikeout. Ali Aguilar was 2-4 with a home run, two runs scored, and three RBI to lead the offense. Courtney Gano was 1-5 with a home run and two RBI while Trysten Melhart was 2-4 with a run scored and two RBI.
Aguilar led off the game with a home run to give Washington the quick 1-0 lead. Rios settled down and got the next three batters in order.
With two down in the top of the fourth a walk and single put runners on the corners for the Huskies. Melhart came through with an infield single to bring in a run. A throwing error allowed another run to come across and make the score 3-0.
France singled up the middle with one down in the home half of the fourth and Chiara Biagini was hit by a pitch. Newell got Santa Clara on the board with a double.
A lead off hit by pitch put a runner on for Gano who crushed a homer to left field. Rios came out and McCall James entered in the circle. She hit a batter with one down but got out of the inning without any more runs coming across.
Leading off the bottom of the sixth, France blasted a homer over the left field fence to get the Broncos a run closer at 5-2. Santa Clara would get two more runners on in the inning but didn't score again.
Casey Stangel started the seventh with a double over the head of the left fielder and Kimberly Souza walked. James exited for Ciara Gonzales. The Huskies would load the bases with one down and end up adding six runs to take an 11-2 lead.
Santa Clara got a two out single in the bottom of the seventh but was unable to score.
Game 2
Ciara Gonzales (4-5) started for Santa Clara and picked up a win in 5.0 innings. Gonzales allowed one run on three hits with three strikeouts. Breezy Bernard was 3-3 with a home run, two runs scored and three RBI to lead the offense. Casandra Padilla was 1-3 with a home run and three RBI
Tara Castellanos (0-1) started for Howard and picked up a loss in 1.2 innings. Castellanos allowed six runs on five hits with two walks and one strikeout. Davis was 1-2 with a double and a run to lead the offense.
Al'Asia Davis led off the game with a double to center and moved to third on a ground out. Another ground out kept Davis at third but Sade Estes singled back to the pitcher to knock in the first run of the game.
Ellie Fisher led off the bottom of the first with a walk and moved up to third before Casandra Padilla clubbed a home run to left center to put Santa Clara on top.
The Broncos scored four in second to get on top 6-1. Newell led off with a single and Ashley Haney was hit by a pitch. A ground out moved both runners up and Fisher walked to load the bases. Padilla hit a sac fly to center to bring in the first run of the inning. Fisher stole second and Bernard knocked in two with a single to center. Bonilla followed with a double to right that scored Bernard for the fourth run of the inning.
Newell reached on an error with one down in the bottom of the third. Haney went down swinging but a wild pitch allowed her to reach and Newell to come in to make the score 7-1. Fisher singled up the middle with Haney on second but she was gunned down trying to score.
Bernard homered to left with one out in the bottom of the fourth to give Santa Clara an 8-1 lead. Kelli Tatum followed with a double to left center and France traded places with her that put Santa Clara up 9-1. Newell singled in another run with two down.