Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 ARCATA – Sometimes you can't lose, no matter how hard you try.
 
For 10 innings on Saturday, the HSU softball team was coasting in “can't lose” mode – but after posting a 9-1 win in five innings in the opener, and leading the second game 6-0 after five innings – things began to go very wrong for the Lumberjacks.
 
Cal State Monterey posted nine runs in the sixth inning to go up 9-6, chasing starter Katie Obbema, then hammering reliever Hannah Williams. Humboldt helped the Otters' cause with two errors, two walks and a hit batter in the inning. The Otters got big hits in the inning from Lauren Ermitano (solo homer), Stacey Campos (two-run homer) and Cori Reinhardt (RBI triple).
 
 A rally in the seventh inning for the Jacks was nearly derailed when, with the bases loaded and one out, the “stop” sign was put up too late for pinch runner Cynthia Chavez who tried to score from second on a single by Julie Pena but was throw out easily by rightfielder Skyler Valdivia. It would have been the tying run, but was instead the second out.
 
Then things went very right for the Jacks.
 
Down 9-8, Dani Randall hit an infield single deep in the hole at short to load the bases. Hannah Brassmassery pinch hit for Carly Perkins and singled through the left side to tie the game. Andrea Chavez got the game-winning RBI with a bases-loaded walk, the third free pass of the inning issued by Reinhardt.
 
“We couldn't get them out in the sixth,” said HSU head coach Frank Cheek. “But even after doing everything wrong, we came back. Brassmassery was basically the last one we had available to hit. I felt I was better off with a senior pinch-hitting than having freshman Perkins bat. Brassmassery got a nice hit. This team doesn't quit, which is a good sign.”
 
Humboldt improves to 7-3 in the California Collegiate Athletic Association and 11-8 overall. Cal State Monterey drops to 6-8 in league and 11-12 overall. Lizzie Perez (6-3) won the opener for the Jacks and Obbema (2-1) won game two. Reinhardt (6-8) lost both games for the Otters.
 
“I'm sure Monterey Bay feels sick,” Cheek said. “They have the sickness I would have had right now if we had not come back in the seventh.”
 
In the first game Chrissy Stalf blasted a home run to lead off the bottom of the first, her 36th on the season. Her next home run will tie her for 2nd with Natalie Galletly (2006-09) on the HSU career home run list.
 
The fireworks didn't stop there for Humboldt, as three more runs scored in the inning thanks to singles by Serena Aragones, Williams and Courtney Hiatt.
 
The Jacks posted another four runs in the bottom of the fifth. Williams hit a walk-off two-run single to end it, 9-1, with the 8-run mercy rule. Williams is hitting .456 on the season and has 30 RBI to lead the team in both categories.
 
“They are pitching Hannah cautiously,” Cheek said. 'With the bases loaded they had to pitch to her. It was a good win for us. We needed it. “
 
The two teams play another doubleheader on Sunday. The first game begins at 11 a.m.