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The UCSB softball team closed out its first home tournament of the season on Saturday, splitting its series with Utah State winning 9-6 and falling 8-7, before defeating North Dakota State 4-3 in the final game of the day.
UCSB VS. UTAH STATE
After Friday’s game was suspended due to darkness, the Gauchos resumed play with a 9-6 lead heading into the top of the seventh inning. Sophomore pitcher Cameryn Snyder picked up where she left off in her first start of the season.
The Gauchos gave up just one hit and displayed solid fielding for all three of their outs to close the game. Snyder finished with three strikeouts in the win.
Sophomore shortstop Madelyn McNally led the team with three hits on four at bats with one RBI. Senior right fielder Ally Nodohara had a team-high three RBI, all of which came on her first inning home run on Friday.
UCSB VS. NDSU
In their final game of the day, the Gauchos used a big fourth inning to avenge Friday’s loss to the Bison.
UCSB was held hitless through three innings, but would do all of its damage in the fourth. Senior second baseman Maci Fines scored first on a single up the middle from McNally. Junior catcher Teah Thies helped McNally tie it at 2-2 with an RBI single to right.
With two outs on the board, junior Sam Denehy tallied her first RBI of the year with a double through the left side as pinch runner Chloe Stewart made it home from second to give the Gauchos the lead. Thies then scored on a wild pitch to make it a 4-2 game.
Snyder (2-0) pitched a full game, giving up just one run the rest of the way for her second straight win.
UCSB vs. UTAH ST.
Santa Barbara fell to Utah State 8-7 after finishing up their postponed game where they got their first win of the season.
After falling behind 4-0, the Gauchos opened their scoring with a three-run homer by Teah Thies in the bottom of the first. UCSB tied the game at 4-4 in the third inning, capitalizing on an Aggie error which allowed Donaldson to make it home from third.
Unfortunately for the Gauchos, Utah State put up four more runs in the top of the fourth. Needing to make up some ground, Santa Barbara cut the lead in half with a two-RBI double by Nodohara in the fifth, scoring runs from McNally and Fines.
The Gauchos needed two runs in the seventh to extend the game and got one from Thies’ sacrifice fly to bring Donaldson home with two outs. However, UCSB came up just one run short.
Michael Jorgenson writes about sports for UCSB.
email: sports@newspress.com
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