MORAGA, Calif. -- Saint Mary’s offense tallied a combined 19 runs and 28 hits over 20 innings to help propel the Gaels to a rare tripleheader sweep of Sacramento State in the opening day of Pacific Coast Softball Conference play for both teams. All three games were played at Cottrell Field, and the Gaels posted an 8-3 win in the opener, an 8-6 victory in game two, and a 3-1 win to finish off the sweep.
The teams were scheduled to play a four-game series this weekend, but yesterday’s doubleheader was rained out. So, the teams played three times today and will make up the fourth game later this year at a date still to be determined. Despite the games taking place on Saint Mary’s home field, the Hornets batted second in the first two games while Saint Mary’s batted last in the third game per conference rules.
Prior to today, the Hornets had been 57-11 all-time against Saint Mary’s. In addition, Sacramento State (17-13, 0-3) is now 0-3 in PCSC play for the first time since the conference took shape in 2003. The Hornets had won 10 of their last 12 games entering today’s play, which included a nine-game winning streak that stretched from March 4-18.
Saint Mary’s improved to 14-16 overall and 3-0 in the conference with the win. The Gaels hit .333 off Hornet pitching today and took advantage of seven walks, three wild pitches, three hit batters and two passed balls. Saint Mary’s seemed to capitalize on every Sacramento State miscue throughout the day, while combining to hit .417 (15-for-36) with runners in scoring position and .419 (13-for-31) with two outs.
GAME 1
Saint Mary’s tallied eight runs and 10 hits over seven innings against Sacramento State starter Taylor Stroud. The usually reliable Stroud (9-5) struck out a career-high 11 batters, but the eight runs tied for the most allowed by the right-hander during her two-year career in the Green and Gold. The 11 strikeouts were easily a career best, five more than any other appearance in a Hornet uniform.
All but two Saint Mary’s players had hits, and no one was more potent than No. 7 hitter Kayla Gonzales who went 3-for-4 with two runs, a double, a home run and four RBIs. Her three-run double in the fourth inning gave the Gaels a 4-0 lead, which were more than enough runs for SMC starter Jessica Lemmon. The Hornets scraped across single runs in the fourth, fifth and seventh innings off Lemmon, but Saint Mary’s had already established a sizeable lead by the time those runs scored.
Lemmon allowed seven hits and three runs (two earned) while walking two and striking out six. Sacramento State scored its three runs on an RBI-single from Kaitlyn Taylor in the fourth inning, an RBI-single from Emily McCormick in the fifth, and a Gael error allowing Devin Caldwell to score in the seventh. Caldwell finished the game 2-for-3 and was the lone Hornet with a multi-hit game.
GAME 2
A dropped routine fly ball by a Hornet outfielder in the second game proved to be the team’s undoing. The dropped ball occurred in a four-run second inning for Saint Mary’s in which all four runs were unearned. Sacramento State had just scored three times in the first inning to take a 3-2 lead. What should have been a shutdown inning for Hornet starting pitcher Caitlin Brooks in the second inning turned into disaster. With two outs and a pair of runners on base (one of which reached because of the error), the Gaels strung together three straight RBI-hits, highlighted by a two-run double from Christine Torrise.
Trailing, 6-3, the Hornets used RBI-singles from McCormick in both the second and fourth innings to close the deficit to 6-5. Brooks lasted three-plus innings and was pulled in the fourth in favor of Stroud after hitting the first batter of the inning and walking the second. Stroud would proceed to retire eight of the next nine batters she faced until Saint Mary’s got back-to-back doubles to begin the seventh inning. The second of which was an RBI-single from Torrise to push the lead to 7-5. Torrise would later score on a wild pitch to give Saint Mary’s another huge insurance run and an 8-5 lead.
The Hornets threatened in the seventh, getting the first three runners on base, the last of which was an RBI-single from Marissa Navarro. However, Navarro was thrown out at second base on the play, and Lemmon entered the game in relief and got the final two outs of the game to notch her second save of the season. Britany Linton (5-7) got the win for Saint Mary’s, giving up eight hits and six runs (three earned) in 6.1 innings.
For Sacramento State, Brooks (4-5) took the loss, allowing seven hits and six runs (two earned) in three innings. Stroud pitched the final four innings. The Hornets finished the game with eight hits, including two apiece from Frye, McCormick and Navarro. Both Navarro and McCormick had two RBIs. The Nos. 2-4 hitters in the Hornets’ lineup (Frye, McCormick and Navarro) combined to go 6-for-11 with four runs scored and four RBIs, while the rest of the lineup went just 2-for-18.
GAME 3
Sacramento State had nine hits against Lemmon, but managed just one run. The Hornets stranded 10 runners on base, including at least one runner in every inning but the fourth. That included leaving the bases loaded in the second inning, and two runners on base in the third and sixth innings.
Saint Mary’s posted single runs in the first, second and third innings to take a 3-1 lead. Sacramento State got its lone run in the second on an RBI-single from Shannon Kaufman which scored Alyssa Nakken. The Hornets had runners at first and third with no outs in the fifth inning, and runners at second and third with one out in the sixth inning, but could not score on either occasion.
Despite making her third appearance of the day, Lemmon (8-6) went the distance, allowing an unearned run and nine hits while walking one and striking out six batters. For the day, Lemmon went 2-0 with a save while tossing a combined 14.2 innings. Sacramento State starter Shelby Voelz (4-3) took the loss, allowing nine hits and three runs over seven innings.
McCormick (2-for-4) and Jessica Abelia (2-for-3) both had multi-hit games for Sacramento State.
The Hornets will look to get back on track when the team hosts Santa Clara for a four-game series this Friday and Saturday, April 6-7. The teams will play doubleheaders on both days at noon.
NOTES -- Frye hit safely in all three games, and now owns a career-high 10-game hitting streak which is the longest by a Hornet this season. The previous high was eight games, set by Devin Caldwell…Kaufman played in all three games today, the first time she has had an at-bat since fracturing her arm while getting hit by a pitch against Nevada on March 7…McCormick combined to hit .417 (5-for-12) with three RBIs in today’s tripleheader.
