After a strong finish to the UCSD softball team’s season, which earned it the third seed in the West Regional Tournament, the Tritons dropped their first two games in the double-elimination competition.
An impotent Triton offense amassed only five hits over the two games in the final two losses, which brought the Tritons’ record for the season to 35-25.
The first game of the tournament matched a pair of 20-game winners, with Erin Kelly (24-8) throwing for the Cal State Bakersfield Roadrunners against UCSD’s ace, Christi Martinelli (20-9). With high-quality pitchers on the mound, the Tritons found out early that runs were bound to be scarce, and mistakes extremely costly.
After a scoreless first inning, the Roadrunners received a gift run from UCSD in the second. With a Bakersfield runner on first base and two outs, Roadrunner first baseman Kristie Smith hit a fly ball that Triton right fielder Jamie Hurst misjudged for a two-base error that brought in the first run of the game. Bakersfield added two more runs in the third inning to open up a 3-0 lead that would hold up against the cold Triton bats.
Kelly’s performance for the Roadrunners merited praise when she struck out six and walked none while going the distance for the complete game shutout. Among the six strikeouts were two called third strikes, which irked UCSD head coach Patti Gerckens.
“”The reason we didn’t hit is that we watched too many strikes go by,”” she said.
Martinelli had a much simpler explanation.
“”We just didn’t hit the ball,”” she said.
The next day, on the verge of elimination, the desperate Tritons met with another club that could not afford to lose: the Wildcats of Chico State University.
The Tritons came out looking to turn on the offense they’d lacked the previous day, but Wildcat pitcher Katie Stokx had other ideas.
UCSD pitcher Leea Harlan blanked Chico State for three innings, but Stokx matched her frame-for-frame, and the game was shaping up to be a pitchers’ duel.
However, in the fourth, the Wildcats struck first. Two singles and two of Chico State’s three triples in the game gave the Wildcats three runs and a lead that they would hold tightly.
Triton shortstop Kim Aggabao singled to break up Stokx’s no-hit bid, but UCSD managed only one other hit for the rest of the game and could score no runs while it fell 4-0.
Gerckens later expressed confusion at her team’s lack of production.
“”I think everybody on the team is trying to figure out why,”” Gerckens said. “”We had seen both pitchers before and we knew what to expect, but we couldn’t make the adjustments that we needed to.””
While the weekend’s results were disappointing, Martinelli suggested that the team’s feeling is defined by more than just wins or losses.
“”We’re obviously disappointed — not necessarily because we lost, but because we know that we didn’t play up to our caliber of play,”” she said.
While her team’s season ends on a sour note, Gerckens said that this team has set a standard for the future.
“”We’ve set a tradition now with an expectation that we should strive for regionals and we should go,”” Gerckens said. “”We’ve had a lot of peaks and valleys during the season and we could have folded but we didn’t.””
Martinelli thinks that once the pain of losing wears off, it will be those peaks that are remembered most.
“”Automatically, I think we all feel a sense of disappointment and frustration,”” she said. “”But in a couple of weeks, we’ll all be able to look back and see what an amazing season we had.””
The Tritons end their season with an overall record of 35-25, including a blistering 13-1 start and a national ranking that climbed as high as fourth. This year’s team has set a high standard for UCSD softball squads to come, and with the loss of four extremely valuable seniors, the Tritons will look to fill holes next year and continue a tradition of success.
