April 21, 2004

Final Stats

Santa Barbara, Calif. - Thanks to some late inning heroics and some hot bats, the UC Santa Barbara softball team swept No. 12 Fresno State in a non-conference doubleheader at Campus Diamond. Junior pitcher Lindsey Herrin's two-out double in bottom of the seventh gave Santa Barbara, and herself, a 5-4 victory in game one. And freshman Kendra Singley was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded in game two to break a 2-2 tie en route to the Gauchos' 5-2 win and doubleheader sweep.

The Bulldogs jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the top of the first inning in game one due to a pair of UCSB errors that resulted in an unearned run. Fresno State's pitcher Laura Ferreira held the Gauchos in check for much of the early innings, but Santa Barbara chip away at the Bulldogs' lead with one run in the third and two more in the sixth to tie it up at 3-3.

Fresno State retook the lead in the top of the seventh with pair of back-to-back doubles by Shasta Lewis and Christina Clark to open the inning. The Bulldogs continued to threaten open up a big lead, loading the bases against Herrin with two outs, but struck out Veronica Green to keep the Gauchos within striking distance.

Freshman Shelby Hensler got the UCSB going in the bottom of the seventh with a one-out single to center field, sparking the come from behind win. After another Gaucho out, senior Heather Nobbe laced a hard ground ball through the side to put runners on the corners for Herrin. Looking to help her own cause in the circle, Herrin lined a shot to the gap in left-center that scored both Hensler and a hard charging Nobbe from first.

In addition to being credited with the game-winning RBI, Herrin also picked up the win in the to improve to 4-1 on the season, going the complete seven innings with four strikeouts. Ferreira suffered the loss for Fresno State and is now 9-6 on the year.

Game two started out with a scoreless first inning, but it was the Bulldogs, more specifically Lori Hoffman, who struck first with her first homerun of the season. With a 1-0 count. Hoffman sent a shot down the right field line off UCSB starting pitcher Jennifer Davis, clearing the fence and giving the Bulldogs a 1-0 lead.

The Gauchos responded with two runs in the third to take a 2-1 lead, capped by a Herrin single to center that scored Singley. Nobbe plated UCSB's first run with a sacrifice fly to center that scored Hensler.

Santa Barbara's lead was short-lived and it looked as if Fresno State was going to blow the game open in the top the fourth. With the bases loaded and one out, Rachael Donaldson hit a bloop single to short left field that scored pinch runner Kristy Villasenior from third and leaving the bases full. But Davis forced Monique Palacios into an inning-ending doubleplay from third-to-home-to-first to keep the game knotted at two apiece.

It did not take long for the Gauchos to regain the upper hand as the home squad rallied for three more runs in the bottom half of the fourth, giving them a 5-2 lead that they would not relinquish. In what proved to be a rather uneventful game-winning RBI, Singley, with the bases loaded, was hit square in the back by Bulldogs starting pitcher Amanda Wolf, scoring Davis Beck. UCSB added two more in the next at-bat when Nobbe singled to leftfield to plate Leslie Simien; Hensler scored from second when Donaldson fumbled the ball in left.

Davis shutdown Fresno State's bats the final three innings, giving up just two hits between the fifth and seventh, to improve to 10-12 on the season in the complete game effort. She finished with six strikeouts and just one walk. Wolf was credited with the loss despite being relieved by Hoffman in the fourth and is now 1-3 on the year.

Herrin and Hensler both finished the day with four hits in seven at-bats and one double apiece. Herrin led the team with four RBI, while Hensler paced the Gauchos with four runs scored. UCSB at a team out-hit the Bulldogs .385 to .263 on the day.

The Gauchos now return to Big West Conference play when they host rival Cal Poly this weekend, starting with a single game at 2:00 p.m. on Saturday and followed by a doubleheader on Sunday at 12:00 noon.