SACRAMENTO, Calif. – The Sacramento State softball team had its Div. I program-record 10-game winning streak snapped, but still split a doubleheader with San Jose State Saturday afternoon at Shea Stadium. San Jose State won the first game, 3-2, before the Hornets came back to win game two, 6-2.Sacramento State had not lost a game since Feb. 8 prior to being defeated in the first game of the doubleheader today. The team has still won 14 of its last 16 game while improving its record to 14-4 this season. The record marks the best start to a season since the 1995 squad began the year at 16-2. San Jose State is now 6-11 with the split.
In the nightcap, freshman Lindy Winkler, and sophomores Erin Coyne and Amy Hillel each had two hits to lead a Hornet offense which produced six runs and eight hits. Junior Nicole Deatherage (6-2) posted her team-best sixth victory of the season, allowing two runs (one earned) and six hits in seven innings of work. Deatherage retired the first 11 batters of the game and finished the contest with six strikeouts.
The Hornets scored single runs in the second and third innings, and tacked on four in the third. Sophomore Amy Hillel tripled in Stephanie Lockhart for the Hornets'' first run before an RBI-single from Coyne gave Sacramento State a 2-0 lead. The Hornets batted around in the fourth inning as a Lesley Mayhorn RBI-double, an RBI-single by Jillian Bivert, and a two-run single from Coyne accounted for the runs.
San Jose State scored single runs in the fifth and seventh innings, but it was not enough as Kelli McCollister (1-4) picked up the loss, allowing five runs (four earned) and five hits in 3.1 innings.
Winkler and Coyne had multiple hits in both games as Coyne combined to go 4-for-6 with three RBIs in the doubleheader while Winkler went 4-for-8 with two triples, two runs and one RBI.
In first game of the afternoon, San Jose State''s Candice Akin and Courtney Lewis combined to allow the Hornets two runs and seven hits over seven innings. The Spartans got on the board in the top of the first as two Hornet errors allowed one run to score. After Sacramento State tied it in the bottom of the first on a wild pitch scoring Winkler, the Spartans responded with two more runs in the top of the second on a two-out, two-run single by Becca Baldridge.
Sacramento State cut the lead to 3-2 in the bottom of the second on a Winkler RBI-triple, but could get no closer the rest of the way. The Hornets threatened in the sixth inning, but Lewis got pinch hitter Deatherage to fly out with runners at the corners to end the inning. Akin (2-3) pitched the first five innings to get the win, while Lewis allowed two hits in two innings of relief to get her first save of the season.
Bivert (1-1) picked up the loss, allowing three runs (two earned) and three hits in two innings. Sophomore Brianne Ferguson continued her dominance, allowing no runs and five hits in five innings of relief. Ferguson has now allowed just two earned runs over her last 46.1 innings (0.30 ERA).
Winkler tripled in her first two at-bats in the opener and now has four three-baggers this season. Hillel''s triple in the second game was her first career triple.
Sacramento State returns to action next weekend (March 7-9) as it participates in the National Invitational Softball Tournament (NIST) in Sunnyvale, Calif. The Hornets play 24th-ranked Minnesota, and sixth-ranked and defending national champions Cal on Friday, March 7, before entering bracket play on Saturday and Sunday.
