LA JOLLA, Calif. --- Cal State Monterey Bay split its doubleheader with UC San Diego on Saturday, winning 2-1, and losing 6-4 --- finishing the four-game series 2-2 against the No. 15 Tritons and strengthening the Otters' bid for a national ranking of their own in the NCAA Division II Softball poll.
Freshman pitcher #Noemi Torres# (8-5) held San Diego to six hits, a walk and one run in a complete-game effort to earn the victory in the opener. On the first play, CSUMB centerfielder #Casey Kaufman# reached on an error committed by shortstop Sarah Woofter. Kaufman eventually came around to score off of a #Marisa Trujillo# (2-3) single.
UCSD tied the game in the bottom half of the inning, but CSUMB used a hit batter and an error to score again in the top of the second and led 2-1. That was all the offense Torres needed. She allowed one hit in the final four innings and finished with seven strikeouts.
The Otters started the second game with another unearned run in the first inning. This time Trujillo knocked in #Megan Luna#. But the Tritons put three straight hits together in the bottom of the inning, the finale an RBI single by Jenni Habibto, to lead 2-1. The Otters would tie the game in the top of the second with three hits, including an RBI-single by Luna, but with the bases loaded and one out, the Otters failed to score again.
The Tritons pushed another two runs across the plate in the bottom of the second and the Triton's Jenny Maze made it 5-2 in the third with a solo homerun. The Otters would get within one when they scored twice in the fifth on one hit, an RBI-single by #Rachelle Morales#, but they left the bases loaded again. CSUMB would put three more runners on base in the final two innings.
Kaufman, Luna, Morales and Trujillo all finished with two hits. #Angela Cabral# (2IP, 7H, 5ER) took the loss. Torres pitched pitched the final four innings for CSUMB and allowed a run on two hits. Christine Zankich (5-3) was credited with the win and Ward pitched the final three innings to record the save.
CSUMB, currently ranked No. 5 in the West Region, is 25-20 overall and 12-12 in the California Collegiate Athletic Conference. UC San Diego is 28-14 and 13-9. They head north to play CCAA leader Humboldt State next week. The Otter will face No. 24 CSU Dominguez Hills on Friday and Saturday at home.
