MORAGA, Calif. – The Pacific softball team dropped its final road game of the season, falling at Saint Mary's, 4-1, Sunday afternoon at Cottrell Field.
 
The Tigers (12-34, 2-9) fell behind early, as the Gaels (16-27, 4-8) put all their four runs on the board in the first three innings. The Tigers struggled with the environment, losing pop-ups in the sun and committing four errors throughout the playing field, allowing the Gaels to pull ahead easily.
 
Vanessa Strong entered the game in relief of Avery Croxall after Croxall allowed three earned runs on nine hits in two innings pitched. Strong had a near-perfect outing, allowing just one hit in four innings of work, lowering her earned-run average to 3.74. The redshirt junior from Oakley, Calif., tallied three strikeouts in her 11th relief appearance this season, increasing her team-leading season total to 72.
 
Rian Dirmeyer provided the Tigers with their lone run of the game on a solo home run in the top of the fourth inning. Dirmeyer, who finished the game one-for-two with an RBI, sent a towering shot over the left-field fence for her team-leading ninth home run of the season to cut the deficit to 4-1. The sophomore from Phoenix, Ariz., finished the three-game series with five hits in nine at-bats and now leads the team with a .350 batting average.
 
"I thought our pitchers did a tremendous job today," Head Coach Brian Kolze stated after the game. "Saint Mary's did a good job putting the ball in play, we lost some balls in the sun, but you have to give them credit … we just need to play cleaner defense."
 
Pacific returns to action on Friday, May 6, as the Tigers face off against BYU in a West Coast Conference doubleheader at Bill Simoni Field.