SANTA CLARA, Calif. – On the final day of the Santa Clara Marriott Round Robin, Santa Clara softball beat Manhattan by a final of 10-0 in five innings. The Broncos are now 10-21 on the season.
Santa Clara returns to the field Tues., March 24 for a doubleheader vs. UMKC.
"I was really happy to see our offense break out today," said Santa Clara head coach Lisa Mize. "I thought we had much better focus in the box. We spent a lot of extra time in the cage and tried to use what we saw from these guys the first time we played them. Hopefully we can carry this over to Tuesday."
McCall James (1-4) started for Santa Clara and picked up a win, the first of her collegiate career, in 5.0 innings on just 50 pitches. James allowed two hits with four strikeouts. Kimberly Goulart was 3-3 with two runs scored, three RBI, and a double to lead the offense. Both Breezy Bernard and Geenamarie Bonilla were 2-3 with two RBI while Ellie Fisher was 3-4 with a double, and RBI and three runs scored.
Amy Bright (5-4) started for Manhattan and picked up a loss in 1.2 innings. Bright allowed five runs on four hits with two walks and a strikeout. Elena Bowman and Sydney Weedon were both 1-2 to lead the offense.
Fisher led off the bottom of the first with a bunt single back to the pitcher. Taylor Bojorquez laid down a sac bunt to move Fisher into scoring position. After a fly ball moved Fisher to third, Bonilla singled through the left side for an RBI.
Casandra Padilla got the bottom of the second going with an 11-pitch at bat that resulted in a walk. A sacrifice bunt moved her into scoring position and Goulart's single to right gave the Broncos the 2-0 advantage. Fisher followed with a double to right center and Bojorquez drew a walk to load the bases. Briana Matazinsky came in to pitch to Bernard who singled in two more runs with a grounder through the right side. Bonilla drove in another run on the next pitch with a single through the left side.
Padilla got hit by a pitch to lead off the home half of the third and moved to second on a grounder back to the pitcher. With two down Goulart knocked in the sixth Bronco run of the game with a double to the left center field gap. Fisher singled to center to bring in Goulart and she advanced to second on the throw. The first baseman's throw to second to try and catch Fisher went into center and Fisher came all the way around to score. Bojorquez would follow with a walk and Bernard singled to through the right side to end the day for Matazinsky. Anna Crowley entered in the circle and got the final out of the inning.
Santa Clara added two more runs in the bottom of the fourth to take a 10-0 lead. James finished off the Jaspers in the top of the fifth for her first career win.
