Coming off of two wins in a double-header against Cal Poly (10-27, 4-14 Big West) on Saturday, UC San Diego softball (18-22, 7-11 Big West) closed the series in dominant fashion on Sunday, holding the Mustangs scoreless en route to a 6-0 win. Sunday’s victory extended the Tritons’ winning streak to five games, which followed an eight-game string of losses.
The Tritons’ fielders, led by freshman pitcher Callie Howard, started strong in the top of the first, allowing only one runner to reach base. In the bottom of the first, sophomore designated player Maalia Cherry sent a ball beyond the left-field fence to score two runs for the Tritons. It was Cherry’s ninth home run of the season, setting a new Division-I program record.
“These are my girls,” Cherry said in a postgame interview with The UCSD Guardian. “And I’m gonna do everything I can to bring them home when they produce, when they do something amazing. … We knew we had to come together with hits. We also knew, on the defensive end, we had to keep it together and get those outs, and we did everything to our power and our best ability.”
Both teams went scoreless in the second inning, but the Tritons closed in on the win in the bottom of the third. While senior outfielder Haley Garcia was on second base, Cherry hit a powerful grounder into center field, scoring Garcia to give the Tritons a 3-0 lead. With the bases loaded, freshman third baseman Tori Hinostro hit a sacrifice fly to score Cherry and extend UCSD’s lead by one. To close out the Tritons’ impressive scoring run in the third, sophomore outfielder Samantha Womack hit a line drive toward right field to bring two Tritons home and close out the inning with a 6-0 lead.
In the fourth and fifth innings, the Mustangs were unable to reach base. A promising sixth inning saw a Mustang batter make it to third base before the next hitter was grounded out, leaving Cal Poly scoreless going into the final inning.
“Callie Howard is just so spunky and so feisty on the mound, and it’s amazing to see,” Cherry said about Howard’s impressive performance after the game.
In the seventh inning, Howard struck out the final two Cal Poly batters in a fitting end to a commanding defensive performance from the Tritons. UCSD took the game with a final score of 6-0. Howard ended the game with three strikeouts in her first-ever complete-game shutout.
“It’s really nice to see us showing up on defense,” head coach Nikki Palmer said in a postgame interview with The Guardian. “We’ve been working really hard to make that stronger and stronger every week, and their hard work is starting to show up on game day.”
The Tritons will take on Hawai’i in another three-game series at Triton Softball Stadium on Friday, April 17, and Saturday, April 18. With Hawai’i ranked fourth in the Big West — compared to UCSD’s spot in sixth — the Tritons will look for an upset to extend their five-game winning streak and secure a top-six spot to qualify for the postseason.
