After three-straight losses heading into the weekend, the Tritons looked to get back on track with four road games on the weekend. Unfortunately, the Tritons ran into tough opposition when they dropped three out of the four to CSU Bakersfield and CSU Dominguez Hills.

Early on for UCSD, things looked promising when the Tritons up-ended Bakersfield in the first game by 4-3. The Tritons got all their runs in the fourth inning on a grand slam by sophomore Breanne Cope off of Roadrunner ace Erin Kelly. An unlikely star, Cope came through huge with her first home run on the year.

Bakersfield could not come back from Cope’s blast, even though it did pull close with a pair of runs in the fifth inning. The Tritons held off the Roadrunners 4-3 for the win. UCSD freshman pitcher Stephanie Kurz, who improved to (3-1) on the year, threw a strong game.

The Tritons then dropped the second game of the doubleheader to Bakersfield when the Roadrunners struck early with two runs in the third and six in the fourth, putting the Tritons in a hole they could not dig themselves out of. After a couple late runs the Tritons could not rally a win, losing 8-4. Junior pitcher Jodie Bland (5-4) was charged with the loss.

The split left the Tritons at 7-7 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association and 11-10 overall, while the Roadrunners moved to 8-4 in the CCAA and 17-9 overall.

UCSD then traveled off to Carson, Calif., to meet up with CSU Dominguez Hills for a doubleheader on March 8. CSUDH came into game one of the doubleheader extremely hot, having won seven out of eight games. However, UCSD was the one that looked hot when Amy Mettee sent a lead-off solo homer into left field. In the second inning, the Tritons struck again with another run. Unfortunately for the Tritons, an error-plagued second inning gave Dominguez Hills three runs and put them up 3-2. The Toros did not look back from that point on, adding runs in the third and fourth innings.

The Tritons did make the game interesting in the seventh with an RBI single and the tying run coming to the plate. But Toro pitcher Kim O’Hanian was able to hold off UCSD and preserve a 5-3 victory. Freshman Jenny Spencer (0-1) was charged with the loss.

In game two, it was Dominguez Hills that got off to a quick start at 1-0. The Tritons took the lead in the two-hit, two-run fourth inning. In the bottom of the inning, the Toros were able to match the Tritons with two runs of their own, the last on an error.

The Tritons threatened to score in the seventh, but like in game one, O’Hanian (7-2) came through and closed out the game, taking the win. Keri Hanley (3-6) got the loss for the Tritons. The losses dropped UCSD to 11-12 on the year and 7-9 in CCAA action. The Tritons look to get back on track on March 14 at home against Sonoma State and on March 15 against San Francisco State.