Santa Clara, Calif. - Two outs away from claiming a victory, Santa Clara softball committed four errors in the final two frames to suffer a 12-6 loss against Sacramento State in extra innings on the final day of the Silicon Valley Classic I tournament.
Santa Clara (6-9) headed to the top of the seventh clinging on to a one run lead, 6-5, as Hannah Edwards was set to face the heart of the Hornets lineup. Edwards got Lewa Day to ground out for the first out but then disaster struck. The Broncos committed an error on three-straight plays to allow the game-tying run to score.
The teams headed to extra innings with the game knotted at six-all. With a runner placed on second to start the inning due to the international tiebreaker rule, Katie Marsh, who went 4-for-4, tripled to right field to drive in the go-ahead run. Jada Walker brought Marsh home with an RBI grounder to give the Hornets an 8-6 lead.
Another Bronco fielding error led to four unearned runs to allow Sacramento State to break the game open 12-6.
SCU had a 6-3 lead going into the fifth on a variety of 2-RBI hits. In the first, Allyston Ferreira doubled in two runs and in the next inning, Sammy Needham singled in a pair. And in the fourth, Emma Bickford homered with a runner on base.
The Hornets (6-8) chipped away.at the Bronco lead getting a run in the fifth and the sixth to get within a run at 6-5 before the disastrous defensive seventh.
Marissa Bertuccio (3-3) threw the final five innings and allowed two runs on four hits.
Edwards (1-3) was the hard luck losing pitcher. In two innings of work, she gave up three hits, six runs but just one was earned.
B4 | Goner. @emma_bickford15 pic.twitter.com/q9tA63cF6U
— Santa Clara Softball (@SCUSoftball) February 26, 2023
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