MORAGA, Calif. — Saint Mary's had a big first inning against Cal in their Wednesday home opener but couldn't close the door on a potent Bears' offense as they ultimately fell 13-5 at Cottrell Field.

HOW IT HAPPENED
In the opening inning, Saint Mary's picked up their first run of the game as Bailey Lotz hit a single up the middle to advance Hannah Chew to second and bring Nikki Alexander home to score. Julia McCormack followed suit with a single and advanced to third off an error made by right fielder to score Abbey Mariani, Lotz, and Halle Sullivan.

Unfortunately for the Gaels, they would only collect two more hits after their 4-run first and tacked on one more run off a wild pitch in the fifth.

After scoring two in the first, Cal tied the game with two more in the second and then took the lead in the third with an additional pair of runs. Four more in the fifth and three in the final frame would cement the victory for the Bears.

Saint Mary's tallied five hits and eight walks in the loss. Mariani led the Gaels with a pair of singles and also drew a free pass. McCormack reached base four times in the contest with her two-RBI single in the first and three more walks.

The Gaels only struck out three times in the loss.

Eileen Perez started for the Gaels but Eryn McCoy pitched the lion's share of the game with 5.2 innings thrown. Madison Mitchell also made an appearance in the final inning and retired two of the three batters she faced.

UP NEXT: AGGIE INVITATIONAL
Saint Mary's will travel to Davis, Calif. to face off against four different schools in the three-day Aggie Invitational hosted by UC Davis beginning on Feb. 22. More information for the contest can be found on the Gaels' schedule page.