STOCKTON, Calif. – The Pacific softball team earned a West Coast Conference doubleheader split against Saint Mary's Saturday afternoon, securing an 8-1 win before dropping the nightcap 8-6 at Bill Simoni Field.
"We did so many things right offensively today," Head Coach Brian Kolze said after the doubleheader. "Our pitchers came through today; Vanessa [Strong] and Hannah [Glad] were tremendous. We could have rolled over after falling behind in the second game, but we continued to battle."
Pacific 8, Saint Mary's 1
A breakout offensive performance from Rian Dirmeyer led the Tigers (10-16, 1-10) to a dominant win in the opening game of the doubleheader. Dirmeyer recorded a season-high three hits in four at-bats, including notching her first-ever multi-home run game, and racked up four RBI.
The sophomore from Phoenix, Ariz., tallied three or more hits in the game for the fifth time in her career, with the last coming on April 30, 2022, at Saint Mary's.
Trailing 1-0 after the opening half-inning of play, Dirmeyer gave the Tigers the lead with a two-RBI single through the right side of the infield, scoring Asia Lee and Carly Lucchetti. Dirmeyer extended the lead to 3-1 in the third inning with a two-out solo home run over the left-centerfield fence.
Dirmeyer recorded another solo shot in the sixth, powering a two-out blast over the left-field fence.
Jordan Hayes, Allie Capello, and Lee also propelled the Tigers throughout the contest, combining for three hits and three RBI. Hayes and Cappello tallied RBI singles in the fourth inning, while Lee added an RBI double in the sixth, her second RBI extra-base hit of her career.
Vanessa Strong recorded her fifth win in the circle, pitching seven stellar innings, allowing just one run on three hits. Tallying her team-leading fourth complete game of the season, Strong struck out three batters and gave up one walk.
Saint Mary's 8, Pacific 6
The Tigers took advantage early, jumping out to a 3-0 lead through five innings of play. In the bottom half of the third inning, Dirmeyer put the Tigers on top with a bases-loaded walk, her fifth RBI of the afternoon.
Scarlett Lloyd and Reagan Hamilton extended the lead later in the fifth inning, with Lloyd recording an RBI flyout and Hamilton adding an RBI single up the middle to push the Tiger advantage to three.
The Gaels (16-25, 6-5) scored eight unanswered runs in the sixth inning, taking their first lead at 8-3.
The Tigers battled back, cutting into the deficit in the bottom half of the sixth inning with a Nina Davis two-run home run, scoring Capello, and cutting the lead to 8-5.
Lee added an RBI single in the game's final inning before the Gaels shut the door on the Tiger comeback.
Hannah Glad earned the start for the Tigers and was perfect through five innings of play. Glad completed her outing, pitching 5.2 innings, allowing no earned runs on one hit while recording three strikeouts.
Pacific returns to action at noon on Sunday, April 30, when it hosts Saint Mary's in the home finale at Bill Simoni Field.
