MORAGA, Calif. — Saint Mary's Softball honored its senior class on Sunday afternoon in the finale of their three-game series against Pacific. The four SMC seniors were celebrated during Senior Day festivities prior to the game, and all four seniors played on Sunday. With a great pitching performance from one of the seniors, and a steady offensive attack, Saint Mary's was able to win on Senior Day and take the series from the Tigers with a 4-1 win. The Gaels improve their record to 16-27 (4-8) while dropping Pacific to 12-34 (2-9).
 
HIT PARADE OF THEIR OWN
Seven of the nine starters for Saint Mary's recorded at least one hit, with Marissa Nishihara and Bry Waters leading the way with a pair of hits. This marks the fourth time during the 2022 season that Saint Mary's had had at least 10 hits in a game, and the first time since the third time its occurred during West Coast Conference play. It also came at a perfect time, as the Gaels allowed 16 hits to the Tigers in game two of the series.
 
FAST START
Saint Mary's got the offense rolling in the first three innings, tacking on four early runs that were enough to propel themselves to a win. In the first inning, Nishihara led off the game with a triple to deep center, and eventually scored on a bloop single to left center off the bat of Indya Smith. Two runs scored in the second when Waters, who led off the inning with a double, scored on a Nishihara single to left. Nishihara then scored on a Sasa Koria single up the middle, making it 3-0 Gaels. One more run was added in the third inning when Rayna Heredia opened the inning by doubling off the left-field wall, and then scored on a bunt dropped down by Jenavee Amador.
 
TAMING THE TIGERS
Getting the start on her Senior Day, Sofia Earle turned in another great performance to earn her ninth win of the season. Earle went the distance on Sunday, just as she did in game one of the series, and limited the Tigers to one run on four hits, all while striking out seven. In the first inning, Earle recorded her 124^th strikeout of the season, which set a new career-best for the senior out of Concord. There were several pressure spots she faced during the game, beginning in the second inning, when the Tigers put runners on the corners with two outs, but Earle struck out the next hitter to end the inning. In the sixth, the Tigers put runners on first and second with just one out, but a couple of outs on the infield ended the threat. For Earle, it is her tenth complete game of 2022.
 
UP NEXT
The final home game of the season for Saint Mary's takes place on Wednesday, May 4 at 3:00 pm as the Gaels welcome in No. 24 Stanford for the final game of their two-game series. The Gaels went to Stanford earlier in the season and lost on February 24, part of a difficult back-to-back against Cal and Stanford. Following the final home game of the year, Saint Mary's will close out West Coast Conference play over the weekend with a three-game series at BYU, beginning on May 13.