Sophomore Nicole Deatherage |
SACRAMENTO, Calif. -- Sophomore Nicole Deatherage''s one-hit shutout sparked Sacramento State to a 2-0 victory over UC Santa Barbara in a Big West Conference softball game Saturday afternoon at Shea Stadium. Today''s game marked the final contest of the 2002 season for both teams.Deatherage (10-9) carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning before allowing a Chantal Pershing bunt single with two outs. The right-hander struck out five and walked zero while facing just two batters over the minimum. After hitting Pershing with a pitch to start the game, Deatherage retired 16 of the next 17 batters before Pershing''s bunt single in the sixth.
With the victory, the Hornets close the season with an 18-33 overall record and a 7-17 Big West mark. UC Santa Barbara finished up the season 27-36 overall and 12-12 in the conference. Today''s contest also marked the final career games for Hornet seniors Meghan Cunningham, Alison Norman, Mary Villalpando, Cathy Coupar, Lori Meixner, Yolanda Estrada and Arlette Sunseri.
Sacramento State got its first run of the game in the third inning as an RBI-single from Coupar scored Jillian Bivert. The Hornets added an insurance run in the fifth inning on a Norman RBI-double scoring Bivert, who had tripled to begin the inning. All but two Sacramento State starters recorded a hit in the game as the team finished with seven. Bivert finished the contest 1-for-3 with two runs scored, and closed the season with a team-leading .327 batting average.
Loren Thornburg (13-19) got the loss for the Gauchos, allowing two runs and seven hits in six innings of work.
Meixner''s fifth-inning assist gave her 495 career assists as she is now the Sacramento State career leader (Div. I era) in that category. Deatherage''s 1.45 ERA was the 10th-best mark in the program''s Div. I era (1990-pres.).
Sacramento State closes the season with an 8-12 record at home, 2-14 on the road, and an 8-7 mark in neutral-site games.
