Feb. 12, 2009

Box Score

Stockton, Calif. - In the Tigers' home opener, Pacific dropped the first half of a double header, 6-2, to the visiting Sacramento State Hornets on Thursday, Feb. 12.

With the loss, Pacific fell to 1-3 on the season, while Sacramento State earned its first win of the year and is now 1-0 overall.

Senior Chelsea Engle (Folsom, Calif.) took the loss for the Tigers, falling to 0-3 on the year. For the Hornets, Brittani Clifford earned the win in a complete-game effort, to improve to 1-0 this season.

Up until the sixth inning, Engle limited the Hornets to only two runs which came during the second inning. In that frame, she gave up and early single to Izmena Cabrera, who reached scoring position after Desiree Beltran advanced her with a sacrifice bunt. Cabrera ultimately scored after a throwing error by senior Heidi Helberg (Brentwood, Calif.) advanced the runner. The Tigers were able to regain composure after that inning, rebounding with a strong defensive effort in three scoreless innings.

By the sixth inning, the Hornets began chipping away at the lead, putting up another two runs. In the bottom of the sixth, the Tigers tried to answer back and were able to jump on the scoreboard with two runs of their own.

Sophomore short stop Nicole Matson (Castaic, Calif.) crushed a double to left center field to start things off, and reached third when Alexa Rivera (Sacramento, Calif.) singled to right center. With two outs and down 4-1, head coach Brian Kolze pinch hit freshman Amanda Collier (Sparks, Nev.) for sophomore Lindsey Pierce (Camarillo, Calif.) in attempt of starting a rally. She did just that, firing off a full-count double to score Rivera and bring the deficit down to just two runs.

That was all Pacific could manage, as the Hornets scored two more runs in the top of the seventh and held Pacific scoreless in the bottom of the final inning, winning the first of two games in the afternoon double header.