April 5, 2008
Game One Box Score
Game Two Box Score
Stockton, Calif. - Looking to get back on track in conference play, the Pacific softball team split a doubleheader with UC Davis on Saturday, April 5. The Aggies took the first game, 2-1, before the Tigers rebounded with a 5-4 win in the second game. Pacific moved to 20-23 overall and 2-3 in Big West play while the Aggies moved to 16-25 overall and 1-4 in conference action.
A pitchers' duel in the first game was a battle between each staff's aces as junior Chelsea Engle (Folsom, Calif.) went toe-to-toe with Jessica Hancock for UC Davis. Each pitcher went the distance for their respective team, giving up four hits in seven innings of work while tallying just one earned run against on the day.
With both pitchers controlling the circle, the game was decided by a throwing error by the Tigers in the third inning that resulted in the second run of the game for UC Davis. Julie Stauder provided the game-winning run for the Aggies in the third after reaching base with a one-out single to centerfield. She moved into scoring position on a walk to Deanna Menapace and then came into score after she stole third, forcing an errant throw into leftfield.
Prior to the run in the third, the Aggies posted their first run of the game in the top of the first inning when a leadoff, infield single by Michelle Espiritu came back to bite the Tigers. After moving to second on a sacrifice bunt, Espiritu came around to score on a double off the fence in rightfield off of the bat of Menapace. Menapace reached base safely all three times she came to the plate in game one, going 1-for-1 with two walks.
With the Aggies leading by two, Pacific failed to take advantage of a golden opportunity to score in the bottom of the third inning after putting runners on first and second with no outs in the inning. After to infield fielder's choices posted the first two outs of the inning, the Tigers furthered their chances to score, loading the bases, only to leave three runners on without a score.
The Tigers would finally answer the Aggies offense in their final at bats of the first game, leading off the inning with a solo shot down the leftfield line by junior Lauren Weyman (Carlsbad, Calif.). The homerun was the first of the season with the Tigers' centerfielder and her first hit of the game. However, the homerun did not spark the rally the Tigers were looking for as Hancock was able to pitcher her way out of the seventh to pick up her 11th win of the season.
Engle dropped to 13-11 on the year with the loss. The win for UC Davis snapped an 11 game losing streak.
With game one in the books, the Tigers used Weyman's homerun at the end of game one to spark a quick start in the second game of the day, jumping out front of the Aggies 3-0 in the bottom of the first inning.
With one out in the inning, junior Casey Goldsand (Scottsdale, Ariz.) started the Tigers off with an infield single to the leftside for her first and only hit of the game. A walk to sophomore Kellee Wilson (Tracy, Calif.) and a single through the leftside by freshman Nicole Matson (Castaic, Calif.) put runners at every base for Pacific as the Tigers threatened the big inning.
Unlike the previous contest, the Tigers did not let their scoring chance go to waste when senior Alyce Jorgensen (Los Altos, Calif.) laced a single up the middle that plated both Goldsand and Wilson on the play while moving Matson to second. She would come around to score the third run of the inning on an error in the infield by the Aggies that would have ended the inning.
Pacific's three run lead, however, would be short lived as the bottom of the Aggies' lineup produced three runs on three hits, including back-to-back homeruns by Sarah Axelson and Bianca Castillo in the top half of the second inning. The pair of homeruns ran starter Heidi Helberg (Brentwood, Calif.) out of the contest for the Tigers as she was relieved by Jorgensen.
Seeing their lead slip away, the Tigers immediately answered back with a pair of runs in the bottom half of the inning to take back the lead, one that they would not relinquish the rest of the afternoon. A leadoff single by freshman Lindsey Pierce (Camarillo, Calif.) started things off for the Tigers. After being unable to put down the sacrifice bunt on the first two pitches of her at bat, sophomore Brittany Hendrickson (San Jose, Calif.) lifted an 0-2 pitch over the head of Castillo in rightfield for an RBI triple. It was the first triple of her career.
With Hendrickson on third, Matson continued to swing a hot bat for Pacific, beating out an infield single to the shortstop with two out in the inning. Due to her hustle down the line, Hendrickson was able to score on the play to plate what would be the Tigers' winning run.
Up 5-3, Jorgensen went to work for her first complete inning in the circle in the top of the third inning. The Aggies went to work as well, knocking out three hits in the inning, including two consecutive singles by Erin Emde and Alex Holmes, the first of which knocked in the Aggies' fourth run of the contest. Despite the initial damage, Jorgensen pitched her way out of the inning with no further runs coming into score.
From their Jorgensen threw two more innings for the Tigers before coming being relieved by Engle after giving up back-to-back one-out walks in the top of the fifth inning. In relief and facing the Aggies for the second consecutive game, Engle retired all eight batters she faced in the contest to pick up her second save of the season and nail down the victory for Jorgensen.
With the win, Jorgensen moved to 4-7 on the season as she threw three innings of effective relief while giving up three hits, one unearned run and four walks while striking out three. Holmes picked up the loss for the Aggies, relinquishing five runs and seven hits in six innings of work.
Pacific and UC Davis will play a third and final rubber game on Sunday, April 6 at Bill Simoni Field. Game time is scheduled for 12:00 pm.
