SANTA CLARA, Calif. - Santa Clara softball swept the doubleheader home opener over perennial powerhouse Fresno State on Tuesday. The Broncos won the first game 6-2, followed by an 8-0 triumph in five innings over the Bulldogs at SCU Softball Stadium in a cool and partly cloudy day.
GAME 1: Santa Clara 6 - Fresno State 2
Freshman hurler Sage Hager continued to dazzle in her young career, winning her third game in as many appearances, pitching a complete game victory over Fresno State, 6-2 in the first game of the doubleheader.
Hager (3-0) scattered seven hits and gave up two runs, a walk and struck out four over seven innings. She gave up an RBI double to Vanessa Hernandez in the opening inning but retired the next 11 batters until she walked Alesia Denby in the fifth.
Offensively, the top half of the Bronco lineup carried the load with eight of the 10 hits and scored all six runs. The 3-4-5 hitters - Regan Dias, Emma Bickford and Morgan Salmon – each had two hits while Allyson Ferreira and Dias scored two runs each.
With the game tied at 1-all in the bottom of the third, Santa Clara (5-6) put up three runs on four hits and a walk against Bulldogs starter Danielle Lung to go up 4-1.
Santa Clara added a run in the fourth on Salmon's single to plate Ferreira.
Hager ran into some problems in the sixth giving up a leadoff double to Keahilele Mattson who eventually scored on Hernandez's sacrifice fly but settled down to retire Taryn Irigoyen and Denby with two runners on base to stay three runs ahead of the Bulldogs (1-7).
The Broncos added a run in the sixth on Salmon's second RBI of the game for the final score of 6-2.
Lung (1-2) took the loss for the Bulldogs giving up four runs, one earned, on four hits and five walks over 2 2/3 innings.
Mattson and Alana Cobb-Adams had two hits each for Fresno State.
GAME 2: Santa Clara 8 - Fresno State 0 (five innings)
Allyson Ferreira and Emma Bickford each drove in three runs and Hannah Edwards tossed a five inning shutout in the 8-0 victory in the backend of the doubleheader. It was Santa Clara's fifth win in the last six contests.
Ferreira's bases clearing double in the bottom of the fifth ended the game, bringing home Lauren Anderson, Lauren LaHood and Ashley Trierweiler. For Trierweiler, it was her fourth run of the game going 3-fo-3 with a walk, scoring every time she reached base.
Santa Clara (6-6) scored two runs each in the first two innings to give Edwards an early 4-0 lead with Bickford having an RBI in both frames.
Edwards (3-3) allowed eight hits over her five innings of work but was helped by some poor base running by the Bulldogs who were thrown out twice trying to take an extra base.
In the second inning, the Bulldogs (1-8) trailed 2-0 with a runner in scoring position and no out, but Bailey Williams was thrown out at second trying to stretch a single. Edwards retired the next two batters with a runner at third, getting Mackenna Steele to pop out to second and struck out Alesia Denby to thrwart the threat.
Again in the fourth, trailing by four runs, the leadoff hitter Keahilele Mattson singled to left but was thrown out at second trying to run on leftfielder Lauren LaHood. The Bulldogs singled twice more in the inning but did not get a run across.
Cassidy West (0-3) also went the distance for the Bulldogs giving up nine hits and eight runs, six earned to go along with four walks to drop her record to 0-3 on the year.
NEXT UP
Santa Clara and San José State will co-host the Silicon Valley Classic I Tournament from Friday to Sunday.
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