April 15 (Game 1)
Sonoma State 5, UC San Diego 1
Sonoma State rallied in their last at-bat to steal the first of the four-game series against UCSD.
The Tritons went up in the fourth inning, when freshman Emily McQuaid — pinch running for Jennifer Manuel — stole second and third in succession. With one out, freshman catcher Caitlin Brown singled through the left side to bring McQuaid in to score.
The Tritons held Sonoma State scoreless until the seventh inning, when Ali Palermo homered for two RBI.
Junior pitcher Camille Gaito (21-2) picked up just her second loss of the season, although she recorded eight strikeouts in the campaign.
April 15 (Game 2)
Sonoma State 5, UC San Diego 1
The Tritons had eight runs on nine hits in the second game of the day to blow out the Seawolves.
UCSD came out strong in the first inning, loading the bases after a poor showing from Sonoma opener Julianne Martinez. Martinez pitched one-third innings before she was replaced, but not before senior Kris Lesovsky scored off of a single to center field by freshman Mya Romero. With bases loaded, the Tritons capitalized on the continued poor pitching from the Seawolves reliever, and recorded two more runs.
The Seawolves pushed back at the top of the second, hitting two consecutive home runs to cut the deficit to 3-2.
UCSD cemented the lead in the third, taking advantage of a pair of errors to bring three runners home.
Junior pitchers Gaito and Tess Granath (7-5) kept the Seawolves at bay for the remainder of the game, while the Triton offense put the game out of reach in the fifth. Brown opened up the inning with a double to left center, and McQuaid pinch ran and found her way to third following a bunt by senior Sarah Woofter. McQuaid scored off a pop fly from senior Jennifer De Fazio, while Woofter was brought home by Lesovsky.
April 16 (Game 1)
Sonoma State 5, UC San Diego 1
The Tritons had just three hits in their first game on Sunday, but were still able to record two runs in the third inning to seal the win.
Lesovsky registered the first hit of the game in the third. With senior Katrin Gabriel positioned on second, Lesovsky singled up the middle to bring Gabriel home. Lesovsky advanced to third on a wild pitch, while Woofter was walked.
With two outs and men on first and third, head coach Patti Gerckens called for the double steal. Sonoma State catcher Skylynn Myers threw to second in an attempt to tag out Woofter, allowing Lesovsky to steal home.
From there, Gaito (22-2) — recently named CCAA Pitcher of the Week for the second consecutive week — allowed only one hit to keep the Seawolves scoreless.
April 16 (Game 2)
Sonoma State 5, UC San Diego 1
In their last home game of the season, the Tritons honored seniors De Fazio, Gabriel, Lyndsay Gaylord, Lesovsky, Rhiannon Ousley, and Woofter. Unfortunately, the Tritons dug themselves into an early hole and were unable to recover to pull out the win.
The Seawolves went up by three in the first inning, recording four hits against pitcher Manuel. Manuel was soon replaced by Granath, who fared little better and allowed two more runs.
Down 5-0, the Tritons picked up their first run in the second, with Romero scoring off of an Ousley bunt. UCSD scored two more runs in the third inning, and would continue to chip away at the Sonoma State lead, scoring in their next three innings.
Gaito came into relieve to calm things down, and the Tritons loaded the bases in the bottom of the seventh. But two straight pop outs gave Sonoma the victory.
“We wanted to get two today, and we unfortunately put ourselves in a situation where we were always behind, and we ran out of time and couldn’t catch up,” Gerckens said.
UCSD still leads the conference, with just a half-game lead over Sonoma State. The team will travel to Hayward to challenge Cal State Stanislaus on April 22 and 23 in the final games of the regular season.
Readers can contact Rachel Uda at [email protected].
