MORAGA, Calif. — On a beautiful Sunday afternoon at Cottrell Field, Saint Mary's Softball wrapped up a three-game series against North Dakota. Both teams played low-scoring affairs on Friday during a doubleheader, and not much changed during Sunday's series finale. The Gaels were able to get one last surge to go ahead, thanks to a big home run, and take the final game of the series with a 5-2 final. SMC is now 9-14 on the season while North Dakota falls to 10-22.
 
FOUR IN THE FOURTH
Saint Mary's got the runs they needed to put away North Dakota in the bottom of the fourth inning, after the bats had been held in check during the first three frames. The inning began harmlessly enough with a leadoff walk to Indya Smith, but then a pair of errors by North Dakota sent the inning into SMC's favor. The first error was a throwing error from short that put Claudia Kirchner aboard, and then a fielding error at short off the bat of Elena Barragan scoring Smith, tying the game at 2-2. That set the stage for Ellen Ebbers, who has been one of the hottest hitting Gaels over the past two weeks. She delivered a big blast to left center for her first home run as a Gael, a three-run shot that put Saint Mary's in front 5-2. Ebbers closed out the three-game series against UND with two extra base hits and four runs driven in.
 
WOOSLEY WOWS
With Sofia Earle in the circle for Saint Mary's, there wasn't much reason for concern about Gaels pitching. She struggled in the first inning, only getting two outs and allowing two runs to score before she was pulled for Marissa Woosley. She calmed things down for Saint Mary's and gave them a chance to win, which they ultimately would. After getting out of the first inning, Woosley wound up tossing the rest of the game (6.1 innings), allowing just three hits, five walks, and she struck out two. Her defense made some nice plays behind her, including the top of the sixth, when Lindsay Cabral ended an inning with a juggling catch on a line drive. The end result was the first win of the season for Woolsey, and she lowered her ERA to 2.21.
 
UP NEXT
Saint Mary's has a quick turnaround before their next pair of games, coming on Tuesday up in Reno. SMC will take on Nevada in a doubleheader at their place beginning at 1:00 pm for their only games of the week. Saint Mary's will then have the weekend off before returning home for a pair of single-game home dates on March 30 and 31 against San Jose State and Oregon State.