SEASIDE, Calif. — When CSUMB and UC San Diego meet on the softball field, it's always going to be a battle. Such was the case again Friday afternoon as the two sides with CCAA title aspirations split the opening doubleheader of their 4–game weekend series at the Otter Sports Complex.

Cori Reinhardt (Riverside Poly) scattered five hits to improve to 7–0 with a 3–2 victory in the opener. UCSD junior Alexis Edwards improved to 6–0 by leading the Tritons to a 4–2 win in the nightcap.

The split leaves CSUMB, the nation's No. 3 ranked team, at 11–2 overall and 4-2 in the CCAA. UCSD is now 15–3 and 8–2.

Both UCSD pitchers had enormous problems finding the strike zone. While a benefit in some ways, the drawn out at bats seemed to throw the Otter hitters off the rhythm and,for the first time all season, they had trouble making solid contact.

Triton wildness paid early dividends for CSUMB, however, when Game 1 starter Hannah Duarte walked four batters in the bottom of the first inning to stake the Otters to a 1–0 lead. Duarte, who finished the day with eight walks, pitched around her free passes for the rest of the afternoon.

UCSD tied the game with a run in the top of the fifth, but the Otters retook the lead in their half of the inning when Anneliese Lopez's (Ventura/Buena HS) RBI single plated Reinhardt, who led the inning off with a single of her own.

CSUMB tacked on a run via a Triton error to end the fifth. UCSD scratched one back in the top of the sixth, but that was all it would get.
The second game came down to a couple of bad pitches from junior Lindsey Clarkson (Fresno/Central HS), who was mostly in control, striking out a season–high nine batters. She struggle only twice, but that was enough to allow the Tritons to first jump ahead, and then pull away late.

UCSD took its first lead of the day when light–hitting Kendall Woken led off the third inning with a double. McKenna Clewett, UCSD's best hitter, then sent a Clarkson riseball well over the left centerfield fence to put the Tritons up 2–0.

CSUMB came back to tie the game an inning later when Lopez sliced a 2–out single down the leftfield line to plate two. But UCSD untied it with two runs in the sixth and the Otters didn't have an answer.

The Otters and Tritons will conclude their 4–games series with a doubleheader Saturday, weather permitting. First pitch is scheduled for 11 a.m.