Since the Sacramento State softball program joined the Div. I ranks in 1990, the longest winning streak prior to this season was nine games, set by the 1995 squad. The Hornets improved their record to 13-3, the team''s best start since the 1995 squad opened the year with a 14-2 record. Sacramento State, which has also won 13 of its last 14 games, has now defeated Nevada all three times the two teams have met this season. The Wolf Pack dropped to 7-5.

In the first game, Sacramento State erased a two-run deficit in the bottom of the eighth inning with three runs. A two-run single from senior Jillian Bivert and a sacrifice fly by sophomore Erin Coyne provided the runs as the team increased its record to 4-2 in extra-inning games this season. Bivert finished the doubleheader with three hits and four RBIs, including the game-winning RBI in both contests. Coyne''s sacrifice fly in the eighth was the only out Nevada recorded in the inning.

Senior Gina Steenburgen (2-0) picked up the win for the Hornets after she relieved Nicole Deatherage in the eighth. Deatherage went seven-plus innings while allowing four runs (three earned) and nine hits to go along with seven strikeouts. Nevada jumped on top with two runs in the top of the eighth on a Kari Stockstill RBI-single and a Brittany Lorenzen RBI-double. After Lorenzen''s double, Deatherage was pulled in favor of Steenburgen, who got out of the inning unscathed. Judith van Kampen (3-3) got the loss for Nevada, allowing eight hits and five runs (three earned) in seven innings.

The Hornets scored their first two runs in the second inning on a wild pitch scoring Amanda Moreland and an RBI-single from Amber Dragomir. Nevada tied the score in the fifth on a sacrifice fly from Cindy Elkins and a Stacy Mueller RBI-single. Moreland, Deatherage and freshman Lindy Winkler each had two hits to lead the Hornet offense. In the process, Deatherage increased her hitting streak to a career-high six games.

In the second game, junior Stephanie Lockhart''s first career home run highlighted a Hornet offense which produced four runs and seven hits. After Nevada jumped ahead, 1-0, in the first inning, the Hornets tied the game in the third on Bivert''s RBI-single scoring Britany Crine. Bivert put the Hornets ahead for good in the fifth with another RBI-single scoring pinch runner Whitnie Darvell. Coyne pushed the Hornet lead to two runs (3-1) with a single scoring Dragomir as both runs in the inning came with two outs.

Lockhart added an insurance run in the sixth with her home run to left field. Lockhart joins Coyne as the only two Hornets to hit home runs this season. Bivert and Crine each finished with two hits for Sacramento State as Crine''s 2-for-3 performance marked her first career multiple-hit game.

Sophomore Brianne Ferguson (5-1) won her fifth-consecutive decision, allowing just one run and seven hits in seven innings of work. Since losing her first game of the season to Pacific, Ferguson has gone 5-0 with two saves and a 0.34 ERA over her last seven appearances. Over that span, the transfer from San Jose State has allowed just two earned runs and 32 hits in 41.1 innings.

Candice Rainwater (1-1) got the loss for the Wolf Pack, allowing seven hits and four runs (three earned) in six innings.

Sacramento State returns to action this Saturday, March 1, as the team welcomes San Jose State to Shea Stadium. Doubleheader action begins at noon.