BOX SCORE 1 | BOX SCORE 2

ROHNERT PARK, Calif. — In a meeting of teams that may do battle again in the postseason, the Cal State Monterey Bay softball team earned a hard fought—and impressive—sweep of Sonoma State Saturday afternoon at Seawolf Field. The Otters needed nine innings to take the opener, 6–5, before earning a more traditional 7–4 win in nightcap.

CSUMB (7–2, 3–1 CCAA) relied on the bat and arm of sophomore Bianca Noriega (Ventura/Camarillo HS), who earned her first collegiate win with three innings of 1–run relief in the opener. She led with her bat in the nightcap, going 2–for–4 with a double and the first Otter home run of the season.

The Otters fell behind 3–0 through three innings of game one and still trailed 3–2 heading to the sixth. But they plated runs in each of the next four innings, finally clinching the game on a 2–out, RBI single from freshman outfielder Anneliesse Lopez (Ventura/Buena HS).

CSUMB raced to its own 3–0 lead in game two before Sonoma exploded for four runs in the bottom of the fifth to reclaim the advantage, 4–3. But the Otters responded with a 4–running rally of their own the in next frame, with Cori Reinhardt's (Riverside Poly) 2–run double providing the margin of victory for Lindsey Clarkson (Fresno/Central HS), who improved to 4–0 on the season.

At the plate, Reinhardt and Danica Arterburn (Sparks, Nev./Spanish Springs HS) each had three hits to highlight game two along with Noriega's blast. Lopez had three hits and scored three runs to lead the offense in game one.

CSUMB returns to action with its belated home openers Friday and Saturday, February 21–22, against CCAA co–leader and defending champion Humboldt State at the Otter Sports Complex.