MORAGA, Calif. — As Saint Mary's softball concluded the opening day of the Saint Mary's Tournament, their first home game of 2023 came down to the wire. The Gaels were held at bay most of the afternoon by Utah State pitching, but a late rally was thwarted with the tying run on base as the Aggies held on for a tight 3-2 victory on the third overall game of the day. SMC drops to 2-4 on the young season while Utah State improves to 3-4.
 
DRAMATIC FINISH
Saint Mary's had just one hit in the game until the seventh inning, and no base runners after the second inning. That changed thanks to the sun in the seventh, when with one out, Rylee Gomez reached after the Aggies first baseman lost a throw in the sun. Gomez moved to second, and then to third when Taylor Keinath recorded her first hit as a Gael, sending one through the right side, putting the tying run on base. That brought up Bry Waters, who wound up bouncing out to third for the second out, but the play was far from over. Gomez then beat a throw home to score the Gaels second run, but Tori Cervantes had come on to run at first base and tried to move up to third on the throw, and was thrown out to end the game. SMC tried to contest that the first baseman was off the bag and that Waters should have been safe initially, but after the umpires gathered, they stuck with the original call.
 
PITCHER'S DUEL
Kailey O'Connor was locked into a pitcher's duel with Hailey McLean of Utah State. O'Connor turned in an effort that would result in a win more times than not: a complete game, with just two earned runs scoring, on six Aggies hits. She walked just one and struck out, and kept the game within reach in the seventh inning after stranding a Utah State runner at third with just one out. McLean was just a bit better, allowing just the one earned run, and striking out nine. The freshman leads the NCAA in strikeouts per seven innings early in the season, and she was missing bats for the Gaels all day long. SMC mustered just five base runners in the game.
 
GETTING ONE BACK
After Utah State scored their first two runs in the second, the Gaels got one back in the bottom half of the frame. Gomez walked with one out and then moved to second base on a wild pitch, but looked like she would stranded there. With two outs, Waters fell behind in the count but battled back to work a walk, and that kept the inning alive for Alex Casas. One of the veteran leaders on this team, the RBI leader from last year delivered, dropping a single into the outfield to score Gomez and make it a 2-1 game.
 
UP NEXT
Saint Mary's and Utah State will get together at 10:00 am on Saturday morning in the lone game of the day at Cottrell Field. The remainder of the Saint Mary's Tournament will resume on Sunday, with three more games, including two for the Gaels. Saturday's single game will also be a Gael Bingo game, with a chance to win prizes at the field.