SOFTBALL — After losing only four times over its first 18
games this season, the UCSD softball team lost three out of four games in a
weekend series against Cal State San Bernardino. The Tritons were swept in the
series opening doubleheader on Feb. 29, losing 4-3 and 10-1, before finally
winning 4-3 on March 1. UCSD was not able to escape the weekend with a series
split and lost the final game 12-4.
In the opening game, senior left-hander Melissa Ward gave up
only five hits over six innings of work, but unfortunately three of the five
went for Cal State San Bernardino homeruns. The team ace showed a very
uncharacteristic lack of control while walking a season-high six batters to go
along with picking up three strikeouts. Even with the unusual performance, Ward
limited the Coyotes to only four runs, but the UCSD offense could only use its
eight hits, three of which came off freshman shortstop Sarah Woofter’s bat, to
get three runs across the board.
The Tritons used a clutch two-out, two-RBI double from
senior third baseman Jenny Maze to ignite a three-run third inning and claim a
3-2 lead over the Coyotes. That lead would hold until the bottom of the sixth
when Cal State San Bernardino stepped up to the plate with some late-game
theatrics of its own. With two down and a runner on first, freshman
pinch-hitter Priscilla Curiel drove a Ward pitch out of the park for a
heartbreaking two-run homerun that gave the Coyotes a 4-3 lead. That lead would
stick, as the Tritons went down in order in the top of the seventh to end the
game.
While the early game was a real nail-bitter, the day’s
second game was a blowout from the get-go. After posting single runs in each of
the first two frames off of senior starter Nicole Fullerton, Cal State San
Bernardino exploded for eight hits and eight runs in the bottom of the third
inning to take a 10-run lead. Fullerton would settle down for the rest of the
game but a fourth-inning homerun from junior first baseman Jenni Habib, her
first of the season, was all the offense the Tritons could muster, and they
fell 10-1 for their first two-game losing streak of the year.
Despite the tough loses, the Tritons have been able to keep
things in perspective and want to use their sub-par games to build momentum and
get to the level of play that they are capable of.
“We had a rough weekend, but we know we’re better and we
know we’ll bounce back,” senior second baseman Danielle Lukk said. “I’m not
happy with our performance, but I know we’re only going go up from here. We
just need to learn from it and leave the rest behind us.”
Determined to overcome the two-game skid, Ward stepped up as
the team’s stopper on March 1 and delivered a signature complete game to lead
her team to a 3-1 victory. Ward scattered six hits over her seven innings of
work and picked up seven strikeouts en route to her sixth win of the year. In
the fourth inning, Maze again delivered the big hit, this time crushing a
three-run homerun that would prove to be more than enough cushion for Ward
throughout the rest of the game. Maze, whose homerun was her 29th career shot,
was 4-for-8 on the weekend and picked up 5 RBIs.
Following the lopsided loss in the nightcap on Feb. 29, the
second leg of the March 1 doubleheader again saw the Tritons on the losing end
of a blowout game. Despite grabbing a first-inning 2-0 lead off of two unearned
Triton runs, sophomore starter Christine Zankich could not make it out of the
second inning, as she gave up five runs in one-plus innings of work. Ward came
in to relieve Zankich and did not fare much better, yielding seven runs, only
four of which were earned, over 3.1 innings of relief work. Key hits by Maze
and sophomore catcher Nicole Saari produced two fourth-inning runs, but the
Coyotes offense did not slow down and the game was called after just five
innings, with Cal State San Bernardino coming out on top 12-4.
UCSD, which is 15-7 overall on the season, is only 5-5 in
California Collegiate Athletic Association games, a sign that the team has excelled
against nonconference teams but has not been able to carry that same
determination against league opponents.
“As a team we need to change our approach to conference
games,” Habib said. “We’ve allowed ourselves to play the other teams’ game and
as a result we play tight. We just need to play ball the way we know how and
not let the other team affect us at all.”
Next weekend the Tritons will return home to host CCAA rival
starting Feb 7.
“I expect the girls to push a little more at practice this
week so that when it comes game time we’ll be ready,” Lukk said. “Confidence,
execution and focus is what we need to see next weekend, and I know we’ll see
it.”
