SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Santa Clara softball took a 6-4 lead into the top of the seventh in hopes of salvaging the series against West Coast Conference leader LMU but the Lions erupted for five runs as the Broncos fell 9-6 on Senior Day Sunday.
The big hit in the inning came from Izzy Jamgotchian who hit a bases clearing double to turn a one-run deficit into an 8-6 lead. She finished with four RBIs on the day on 2-for-4 hitting. Arianna Jaurequi added an insurance run with a sacrifice fly for the final margin of victory.
The game featured a total of nine of pitching changes, five by LMU and four by Santa Clara, including the starters for both teams re-entering towards the end of the game.
Jamgotchian's game-winning double came against Dias who started in the circle and re-entered to face the Lions catcher.
LMU (25-17, 11-1 WCC) starter Jenna Perez exited after the first two innings, trailing 2-1 but came back in to pitch a three-up, three-down seventh to earn the save.
Santa Clara (22-24, 3-9 WCC) scored two runs each in the first and third innings with Emma Bickford accounting for two of the runs batted in, that gave SCU with its biggest lead at 4-1.
The Lions trimmed the lead to 4-3 in the fourth on Jasmine Sofowora's two-RBI double and tied it in the sixth on Jamgotchian's solo home run.
With the game knotted at 4-all, the Broncos got back-to-back RBI singles from Allyston Ferreira and Sammy Needham in the home half of the sixth to regain the lead 6-4. Lindsay O'Dell (4-2) came in relief and got the third out of the inning to pick up the win as LMU scored the five runs in the next inning.
Sage Hager (9-8) took the loss for SCU giving up four of the five runs in the seventh.
Six Bronco seniors - Bickford, Dias, Ferreira, Lauren Lahood, Needham and Ashley Trierweiler - all were in the starting lineup. The parents of each seniors threw out the honorary first pitch and there was a postgame ceremony honoring them.
NEXT UP
The play at San Diego next weekend in the final series of the season.
