April 9, 2011

Box Score

Davis, Calif. - Hitting the road against their regional rival, the Pacific softball team split a Big West doubleheader with UC Davis on Saturday, April 9 at LaRue Field in Davis, Calif. The Tigers took the first game of the day, 4-0, before the Aggies struck back with a 3-1 victory in the second contest. The split moved Pacific's record to 23-13 on the year and 3-2 in the Big West while the Aggies improved to 18-15 overall and 3-2 in conference action.

In a battle of the two best pitchers from a season ago, the Tigers' sophomore Nikki Armagost got the better of the Aggies' Alex Holmes en route to her 10th win of the season. The reigning 2010 Freshman Pitcher of the Year proved to be too much for UC Davis at the plate as Armagost scattered six hits through seven innings of work to pick up her second complete game shutout of the year.

Facing little adversity throughout the game, Armagost faced just one real threat in seven innings as she allowed the Aggies to load the bases in the bottom of the third after two outs were recorded. However, the sophomore would induce a weak ground ball to junior Alexa Rivera at second to end the inning with no damage done. After the third, Armagost allowed just three runners as she gave up two hits and hit another to complete her outing. In all, Armagost walked two, not including the hit batter, while striking out three.

With their sophomore controlling the game in the circle in the bottom of every inning, Pacific's offense took care of the Aggies and Holmes at the plate to earn the opening game victory. Scoring four runs against Holmes, the Tigers picked up nine hits in the game to do the majority of the damage. The Tigers would deal the final blow of the game to the Aggies in the bottom of the sixth when they plated a pair of two-out runs and knocked Holmes from the contest.

In the inning, the Tigers used a pair of hits and three walks to pick up their runs as sophomores Amy Moore and Megan Hom each singled in the inning with Hom driving in the first run of the frame. After Hom knocked Holmes from the game with her RBI single, freshman Megan Foglesong picked up the easiest RBI of the day with a bases loaded walk to bring home the fourth run of the game. Foglesong led the way with two RBI in the game while freshman Kelsey Rodriguez scored a team-high two runs.

After playing a solid opening game against the Aggies, poor defense and a lack of timely hitting would haunt the Tigers in the search for the doubleheader sweep. With their freshman Tori Shepard in the circle, the Tigers would commit two very costly errors up the middle that would allow UC Davis to score all three of their runs against Shepard. Pacific's error in the bottom of the fourth would prove to be the hardest to swallow as the Aggies' Kylie Fan, a junior right fielder, flied her first collegiate home run around the left field foul pole to give UC Davis the 3-1 lead.

Shepard dropped to 9-5 on the year and 2-1 in the conference despite not allowing an earned run in the game. The freshman, in six innings, gave up just four hits and walked three more while adding two strike outs.

At the plate, Pacific missed out on numerous opportunities to do major damage on the scoreboard. The Tigers, like the Aggies would pick up their lone run on a defensive miscue in the top of the third. After a walk to junior Nicole Matson gave the Tigers a free runner, Pacific's shortstop moved to into scoring position on a passed ball from which she would come into score on a dropped fly ball.

The Tigers had scoring chances in each of the first four innings including runners at third and less than two outs in the second, third and fourth innings only to have Jessica Thweat, UC Davis' second game starter, pitcher her way out of trouble. In 6.2 innings pitched, Thweat gave up five hits and three walks while adding two strike outs. Combined with her relief appearance in game one, Thweat held Pacific's top-rated offense to just six hits in 8.0 innings of work while giving up just the one unearned run.

The two teams will clash again on Sunday, April 10, in the rubber-game of their season series. The single game at LaRue Field will begin at 12:00 pm.