MODESTO, Calif. – It wasn't easy, but No. 3-ranked Humboldt State softball came up with a split in Thursday's twinbill with UC San Diego. The Lumberjacks won the first game 5-4 in 10 innings, but were edged 6-5 in game two.
"We can't let a split get us down," said Head Coach
Shelli Sarchett. "We need to move on from this tough day and go into the tourney with our heads up knowing that we still have a lot of ball left."
HSU moved to 25-3-1 overall and 20-2 in conference play following Thursday's results.
The Green and Gold take a break from the California Collegiate Athletic Association slate this weekend at the annual Tournament of Champions event held on the campus of Stanislaus State. The Jacks open tournament play Friday, April 1 with games against Northwest Nazarene and Concordia at 9 a.m. and 11:30 a.m., respectively.
GAME ONE(Humboldt State 5, UC San Diego 4 – 10 innings)Down 3-2 in the bottom of the seventh, HSU needed a rally to avoid a game one loss. With runners at second and third and two outs,
Hanna Holland smacked a two-run single up the middle to force extra innings.
The Jacks worked two-out magic again in the 10th frame.
Tiffany Hollingsworth and
Julie Pena drew two-out walks before
Breonna Bejaran came up with the game-winning single. The HSU first baseman drove a 1-1 pitch off the Tritons shortstop to bring home the final run.
Katie Obbema got the start in game one and went the distance. She tossed over 170 pitches in the 10-inning win and fanned seven. Obbema collected her 12th victory of the season in her 10th complete game.
Three Jacks had multi-hit outings. Holland,
Kalyn Paque and
Sydney Roberts each collected two of HSU's eight total hits.
GAME TWO(UC San Diego 6, Humboldt State 5)Despite game two's result, both Holland and Obbema had noteworthy performances.
Madison Williams took the circle to start the outing, but lasted just 1.2 innings in her shortest outing of the season. She walked four of the 12 batters she faced, surrendered three runs and suffered her first loss of the season.
Obbema came on in relief and finished off the nightcap. She also allowed three runs in 5.1 innings of work.
Building off her game one success, Holland went 3-for-4 at the dish and drove in four of HSU's five runs. The Oakdale, Calif., product extended her hitting streak to 20 straight games and her reached base streak to 32 consecutive games. She was the only Lumberjack with more than one hit in the nightcap.
