April 10, 2009
SANTA CLARA, Calif. - In their Pacific Coast Softball Conference home opening weekend, the Santa Clara softball team dropped the first two games of the four-game series to Loyola Marymount Friday afternoon at the West Valley College Softball Field. In the early game, SCU fell 13-5, and were shutout in five innings 11-0 in the final game of the day. Despite only scoring five runs on the day, the Broncos' tallied three home runs.
In the 13-5 loss, Santa Clara took an immediate 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first. Junior transfer Megan Smith slammed her first home run of the season and Bronco career to give SCU the lead. In the third, LMU responded with two runs, only for Santa Clara shortstop Kristin Welsh to blast her first career home run to tie the game at two-all. As the back-and-forth game progressed, SCU looked to be on pace to battle the Lions for their first conference victory of the season. Loyola Marymount halted that pursuit with a six-run fifth inning, that the Broncos could not recover from. In the bottom half of the fifth, SCU attempted a comeback with three runs from Amanda Edmonson. The Santa Clara infielder hit a two RBI home run to tally three SCU runs. With the game within reach at 8-5, the Lions secured their three-run lead with a combined five runs in the sixth and seventh. Six of LMU's 13 runs were scored off of home runs; nine total homers were hit in the game between both teams.
After dropping their conference home opener, Santa Clara's offense was paralyzed by Loyola Marymount's offensive momentum. The Lions opened up the first inning with a grand slam, which foreshadowed how the following four innings of play would carry out. LMU proceeded to score seven runs in the second through fourth innings to secure their 11-0 shutout over the Broncos. Santa Clara only managed to post two hits in the game, including a double in the second from Jenna Fong.
SCU (5-33, 0-6 PCSC) looks to earn their first conference win of the season on Saturday, April 11, when they return to the field to take on LMU in a doubleheader. First pitch is set for noon at the West Valley College Softball Field.
