MORAGA, Calif. — Saint Mary's softball hosted the final day of the Saint Mary's Tournament on Sunday afternoon, with games against UC San Diego and San Jose State on tap for the Gaels. While the second game of the day didn't go the way of the Gaels, the first game featured an exciting come-from-behind win that saw SMC overcome a 5-1 deficit midway through the game. Saint Mary's wound up beating UC San Diego 9-6 in the first game of the day, helping them to a 4-5 record through the first two weekends of the year.
 
Game 1: Saint Mary's 9, UC San Diego 6
 
MAKING A COMEBACK
Heading into the bottom of the fourth, the Gaels were down 5-1 and had just allowed three runs to UCSD in the top half of the inning. Things weren't looking good, but the offense began to take advantage of mistakes made by the Tritons. Starting in the fourth with two outs, Lindsay Cabral was hit by a pitch, and then Claudia Kirchner reached on a fielding error, setting the wheel in motion. Hannah Ferguson came up and was also hit by a pitch, loading the bases for Bry Waters, who sent a grounder to third and beat the throw out to score a run and make it 5-2. Then came Alex Casas, who delivered a clutch two-run single up the middle to make it 5-4. Just like that, the Gaels had instant life.
 
COMEBACK COMPLETED
After a run scored in the bottom of the fifth to make it a 6-5 game, the Gaels officially overcame the deficit in the bottom of the sixth. It all started at the top of the order, where Ferguson opened up with a single, and then she stole second, and moved to third when Waters reached on a fielding error. A Waters steal put two runners in scoring position, and then Casas reached on another UCSD fielding error, scoring Ferguson to tie the game. A fielder's choice that did not result in an out loaded the bases for Rylee Gomez, who delivered with the biggest hit of her career, a two-run single to put the Gaels up 8-6. They would tack on one more run after a Taylor Keinath RBI hit, and suddenly the Gaels flipped a 5-1 deficit into a 9-6 lead.
 
STARS OF THE SHOW
Keinath led the way with a 3-4 performance, but it was the top of the order that was all over the place. Ferguson scored three times with two hits, while Casas and Gomez had the big two-RBI hits. Six of the nine runs came from the top four spots in the order for the Gaels, who pounded out 10 hits in the win. Kailey O'Connor came on in relief and pitched 1.2 scoreless innings with three strikeouts to pick up her third win on the year.
 
Game 2: San Jose State 5, Saint Mary's 0
 
ALL THE RUNS EARLY
San Jose State got the best of Saint Mary's and their starter Kailey O'Connor, with all five runs scoring in the first four innings. In the first, it was Ashley Rico roping a double to right center to get the Spartans on the board. In the second inning, it was Alyssa Graham and Ahmiya Noriega singling home runs with two outs to make it 3-0 visitors, and then Graham had the big hit of the game in the fourth. After a two-out single, Graham launched her third home run of the season to left field to cap the scoring at 5-0.
 
ONES ACROSS THE BOARD
While the Gaels didn't get any runs in the second game, they were nearly without a hit. It took until a leadoff hit by Taylor Lane in the bottom of the seventh to break up the no-hitter attempt from Jenessa Ullegue, who was stellar in the circle. The only other Gaels to reach were Rylee Gomez, who was hit by a pitch in the second, and Hannah Ferguson, who walked in the third. The Gaels struck out nine times in the game against Ullegue. Another one on the board was the amount of hits surrendered by Odhi Vasquez in relief, who pitched the final three innings in scoreless fashion.
 
UP NEXT
Saint Mary's will stay in the Bay Area next weekend for the annual Silicon Valley Classic, hosted by San Jose State and Santa Clara. SMC will take on Northern Colorado twice, San Jose State twice, and Sacramento State once over Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. First up is Northern Colorado and San Jose State on February 24, beginning at 1:00 pm.