SOFTBALL SPLITS WITH SAINT MARY’S, REMAINS A HALF GAME BACK OF FIRST PLACE

4/24/2010

MORAGA, Calif. – Sacramento State’s Jenice Bartee clubbed a three-run homer and Megan Schaefer tossed four shutout innings of relief to lead the Hornets to a 5-3 victory over Saint Mary’s in the first game of a Pacific Coast Softball Conference (PCSC) doubleheader Saturday afternoon at Cottrell Field.

In the nightcap, the Gaels erased a two-run deficit by scoring three times in the fifth and once more in the sixth to win by a 4-2 score.

With the split, Sacramento State (16-27, 6-3) remains in second place in the conference standings. The Hornets are just a half game back of first-place Loyola Marymount (7-3) with two and a half weeks left in the conference season. Loyola Marymount split with Santa Clara earlier today. Saint Mary’s (19-18, 5-3) sits in third place, just a half game back of the Hornets as the top three teams in the league are all within a game of each other. Cal State Bakersfield (5-5), San Diego (3-5) and Santa Clara (1-8) round out the conference standings.

Sacramento State and Saint Mary’s wrap up their important four-game series with another doubleheader tomorrow at noon in Moraga.

The win in the opener was the 500th for head coach Kathy Strahan in a Sacramento State uniform. She is now 500-466-2 in 18 years at Sacramento State, and 747-711-3 in 27 years as a collegiate head coach.

In the first game, Sacramento State used a four-run third inning to take control of the game, and Schaefer dominated over the last four innings to punctuate the victory. During that four-run inning, Kelli Frye opened the scoring by advancing home on a passed ball. Two batters later, Bartee deposited a ball over the left field fence to score Emily McCormick and Erin Jones. All four runs in the innings were scored after two were out, and the home run for Bartee was her second of the season.

Saint Mary’s scored one time in the first, and tacked on two more in the third. A two-out, two-run homer from Jenna Smith scored both Gael runs in the third inning, and forced Sacramento State head coach Kathy Strahan to pull starting pitcher Jacquelyn Serrano in favor of Schaefer to begin the fourth.

Schaefer (6-5) responded by allowing one hit and one walk while striking out three over the final four innings. She faced just two batters over the minimum and allowed one Saint Mary’s runner to advance past first base. Schaefer retired the side in order in both the fifth and seventh innings.

With the Hornets still leading, 4-3, in the top of the seventh, the team tacked on an insurance run after Frye’s ground-out to second base allowed Alyssa Nakken to score from third base.

Sacramento State pounded out 10 hits in the game, including two each from Nakken, McCormick, Jones and Bartee. Jones would also get two hits in the second game, and extend her season-best hitting streak to nine games. Bartee and McCormick also had hits in both games and increased their hitting streaks to five games. The nine-game streak for Jones is the longest by a Hornet this year.

In the nightcap, both teams were scoreless through the first four innings, before a combined five runs were tallied in the fifth. The Hornets got on the board with two runs in the top half of the inning via RBI-double from Jones and an RBI-single from Bartee. After the Hornets had scored their runs, the team still had runners at first and third with one out, but could not score more.

Saint Mary’s immediately responded in the bottom of the fifth with three runs. Sacramento State starter Shelby Voelz retired the first two hitters of the inning before five straight Gaels reached base safely. The big blows of the inning were a two-run double from Smith and an RBI-single from Katherine Delpit.

Saint Mary’s added a run in the sixth on an RBI-single from Michelle Mounts. That was more than enough run support for Britany Linton (10-9), who went the distance for the win. Linton scattered eight hits and two walks over seven innings. Sacramento State had its chances to score, but stranded eight runners on base, including at least one runner in each of the first five innings.

Voelz (8-14) took the loss for the Hornets, allowing seven hits, four runs, three walks and six strikeouts over six innings. She had allowed just one hit through the first 4.2 innings until the Gaels’ big rally in the fifth. The three-run fifth inning also ended Voelz’s scoreless inning streak at 19 (spanning four games).

McCormick and Jones both had two hits for the Hornets, and the top six batters in Sacramento State’s lineup each had at least one hit.