SANTA CLARA, Calif. – In their final game of the 2015 Santa Clara Marriott Invitational, Santa Clara softball lost to No. 17 Washington by a final of 10-1 in six innings. The Broncos are now 5-14 on the season.
Santa Clara returns to the field Sat., March 7 at 11 a.m. at Stanford and at 1:30 p.m. vs. Minnesota at the Stanford Invitational.
Ciara Gonzales (5-6) started for Santa Clara and picked up a loss in 3.0 innings. Gonzales allowed five runs, three earned, on five hits with one walk and one strikeout. Ellie Fisher was 1-1 with two walks and a run scored to lead the offense. Breezy Bernard added an RBI.
Casey Stangel (4-1) started for Washington and picked up a win in 6.0 innings. Stangel allowed one run on four hits with three walks and four strikeouts. Courtney Gano was 3-4 with a double, a home run, and two RBI to lead the offense. Ali Aguilar was 1-4 with a double, a run scored, and two RBI, while Kylee Lahners was 1-3 with two runs scored and two RBI.
Lahners was hit by the first pitch of the game and Taylor Van Zee reached on an error by the shortstop. A deep fly ball moved both runners up with two down and a walk loaded the bases. Another error by the shortstop allowed two runs to come in for the Huskies.
Fisher led off the bottom of the first with a walk and moved around to third on a single to right by Casandra Padilla. Bernard made the score 2-1 with an RBI ground out to second.
Van Zee started the third with a home run to left center. Gonzales allowed a single with one out but ended the inning without another run coming across.
Kelli Suguro started the fourth with a single and swiped second. An infield single by Kelly Burdick put runners on the corners and ended the day for Gonzales. Briana Rios came in to pitch and Jennie McNeil laid down a bunt single to load the bases with no one out. Lahners singled just inside the bag at third to bring in two more runs and make the sore 5-1. Aguilar hit a two-run double with one down to grow the lead to six. An RBI double down the left field line got Rios out of the game in favor of McCall James who ended the inning without another run scoring.
James had retired six straight before Gano crushed a home run to left that made the score 9-1. A double by Stangel brought in Micaela Vierra in the circle for Santa Clara and she gave up an RBI double before getting out of the inning.
The Broncos went down in order in the bottom of the sixth to end the game.
