SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Santa Clara softball earned a split Saturday in a doubleheader with Pacific.

The Broncos (5-13, 2-3 WCC) dropped the first game of the day 4-3 in 8 innings but came back with a 6-0 shutout of the Tigers (12-12, 2-3 WCC) in the day's finale.

GAME 1
Santa Clara jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the second and led all the way to the sixth before Pacific evened things up and ultimately won it in extras.

Madison Kahwaty led off the eighth with a triple to the right-centerfield gap. With one down, Rian Dirmeyer hit a shallow fly to right and Kahwaty tested the arm of Kat Sanchez in right. Sanchez's throw was in time but short-hopped Sarah Ellersick at home and the go-ahead run scored.

Ellersick led off the bottom of the eighth with a single through the left side and moved to second on a sac bunt by Lauren LaHood. A groundout put her at third with two down but a strikeout to Sanchez ended things.

Kahwaty finished with two runs scored with Dirmeyer and Carly Lucchetti both adding RBIs. Luchetti's tied the game on a seeing-eye single in the sixth. Valeria Torres-Colon finished with a pair of hits and a run scored as well.

The Broncos had Tigers starter Myka Sutherlin on the ropes early but squandered an opportunity to score in the first when they had runners on second and third with no outs. Even though they scored two in the second, they could have gotten more after loading the bases with no outs.

Sutherlin (4-1) threw a complete game to get the win, allowing two runs on eight hits with two walks and six strikeouts.

Allyson Ferreira had two hits and an RBI with Ashley Trierweiler also adding an RBI and Kenzie Yamakoshi smacking a double.

Lauren Anderson (1-5) went the distance and took the loss. She allowed three runs, two earned, on six hits with a walk.

GAME 2
Liyah Lopez was brilliant in the first shutout of her career and the Santa Clara bats came alive as the Broncos cruised to a victory in the second game if the day.

Lopez (2-1) allowed just five hits and a walk en route to picking up her second consecutive victory.

The offense was led by Trierweiler who knocked in the first two runs of the day in the second with a single and finished 3-for-4 with three RBIs and a run scored. Allyson Ferreira followed Trierweiler's single with a two-run double and was 2-for-4 in the game. Lopez also added a hit with a run scored and an RBI to help her cause.

Five different Tigers had a hit each with Jessica Mabrey's double the lone extra base hit of the day for Pacific.

Bethany Hammer (1-6) took the loss in 6 innings. She allowed six runs, five earned, on 10 hits with a walk and two strikeouts.

UP NEXT
The series finale is tomorrow at noon.

Unfortunately, due to a spike in COVID-19 cases with the campus community and despite a recent improvement, we remain unable to allow fans into the facility at this time. The priority continues to be the health and safety of our student-athletes, coaches and staff so the university will continue to evaluate campus policies. While the state of California announced guidance for outdoor seated venues on April 1, the university reserves the right to be more cautious than public health guidance.

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