SACRAMENTO, Calif. – Santa Clara softball opened the season with a pair of losses at the Capital City Kickoff. The Broncos fell to UC Santa Barbara 4-2 and host Sacramento State 6-2.
Game 1
UC Santa Barbara (1-0) put up single runs in the second, third, fourth, and fifth innings with Santa Clara (0-1) answering with runs in the fourth and fifth.
Micaela Vierra (0-1) pitched well for the Broncos in the start but was outdueled by Lena Meyer (1-0) who went the distance.
Meyer allowed two runs, one earned, on six hits with two walks and seven strikeouts while Vierra surrendered two earned on five hits with a walk and a strikeout in 4 innings.
Down 4-2, the Broncos got a leadoff walk in the top of the seventh from Adele Elkind to bring the tying run to the plate, but Elkind was called out for leaving early the pitch before Morgan Modesto hit her second double of the day. The next two Broncos worked full counts but ultimately made outs.
Trailing 3-0, the Broncos got on the board in the fourth after a leadoff triple from Taylor Burns. With one down, Hannah Russell came through with a sac fly that made it 3-1.
After Alyssa Diaz answered with a solo shot to put UC Santa Barbara up 4-1, Santa Clara used a two-out rally to get the run back. Modesto hit the first of her two doubles on the day and Ellie Fisher followed with an infield single before a fielding error by UC Santa Barbara third baseman Kayla Krantz cut the deficit to two.
In the second, the Gauchos took advantage of a walk and hit batter to start the inning before Genesis Ramirez brought home the first run with a single up the middle.
A wild pitch in the top of the third made it 2-0 Gauchos and a one-out double by Krantz in the fourth put UC Santa Barbara up by three.
Game 2
Sacramento State (1-0) got off to a fast start when Krystal Aubert blasted a three-run home run in the bottom of the first, four batters into the game.
The Hornets added two more runs in the bottom of the third on back-to-back infield singles by Mo Spieth and Sydney Rasmussen to take a 5-0 lead.
Celina Matthias (1-0) made the offense stand up as she tossed a complete game, allowing two runs on five hits with three walks and four strikeouts.
The Broncos (0-2) lone runs off Matthias came in top of the sixth. Burns smacked a double that knocked in Ellie Fisher and with two down Russell singled in the second run of the inning to make it 6-2.
Aubree Kim (0-1) started for Santa Clara and got the loss in 4 innings. She allowed six runs on 10 hits with a walk and three strikeouts. Vierra came out of the bullpen to toss 2 shutout innings.
NEXT UP
The Broncos play UC Santa Barbara at 8:30 a.m. and Cal at 1 p.m. tomorrow.
GAMEDAY INFORMATION |
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| Live Stats | Feb. 10 vs. UC Santa Barbara |
| Feb. 10 vs. Cal | |
| Feb. 11 vs. Cal | |
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