SACRAMENTO, Calif. — The 2022 Saint Mary's Softball season officially began on Friday afternoon as the Gaels played Montana at Shea Stadium in Sacramento. As their opener to the NorCal Kickoff, hosted by Sacramento State and UC Davis, the Gaels were catching the Grizzlies after they had already won earlier in the morning. A pitcher's duel commenced, and the Gaels were victorious, taking care of business in extra innings to the tune of a 2-1 final, with all three runs in the game coming in the eighth and final inning.
 
GOOSE EGGS
Opening Days are a mixed bag in terms of who comes out on top: the offense or the pitching. On Friday, pitching reigned supreme, as Sofia Earle and Dana Butterfield were spinning gems through the first seven innings. Neither pitcher allowed a run to score, though both teams had their chances. In the bottom of the second, the Griz got a leadoff that double that was left stranded without advancing. In the third, the Gaels answered with consecutive singles from Reyna Heredia and Marissa Nishihara, though neither came around to score. Again, the Gaels had two hits in the fifth, from Nishihara and Jayda Alaan, but it came with two outs before the inning came to a halt.
 
BREAKING THE STALEMATE
It took until the top of the eighth inning, but the Gaels were finally able to scratch across the game's first runs. With Heredia placed on second as the international tiebreaker, Nishihara opened the inning by smashing a triple down the right field line, scoring Heredia and giving the Gaels a 1-0 lead. Alaan followed by fouling out, but it allowed Nishihara to score and put the Gaels up 2-0. Earle would hold serve in the bottom half, but not without drama. After getting the first two outs, an RBI double made it 2-1. Still needing just one out, a fielding error put runners on the corners before a fielder's choice bounce out ended the game and gave the Gaels a win.
 
TOP PERFORMERS
Nishihara recorded three hits, accounting for half of SMC's hit total on Friday…Alex Casas, Alaan, and Heredia had the other three…Earle needed just 112 pitches to make it through eight innings of work, failing to allow an earned run while striking out seven…Butterfield, for Montana, needed just 84 pitches to make it through eight innings.
 
UP NEXT
The NorCal Kickoff continues on Saturday and Sunday, and the Gaels will play four more times over the next two days. A rematch against the Griz takes place tomorrow at 9:00 am before SMC takes on UC Davis at 11:30 am, the hosts of the final two days of the event. San Jose State and UC Davis are the opponents over the final day of the round robin.