MORAGA, Calif. — After dropping a pair of games on Friday afternoon, Saint Mary's softball got back to work on Saturday at Cottrell Field hosting Maine and Dartmouth. Those two teams got the best of the Gaels one day ago, but that would not be the case on Saturday. SMC got some dominant pitching in the circle and timely offense to beat Maine 2-0 and Dartmouth 4-1, capping off a Saturday sweep in Moraga.
 
Game 1: Saint Mary's 2, Maine 0
 
NEEDED ONLY THESE TWO
The game was scoreless going into the bottom of the fifth, when Saint Mary's broke through and finally got the games only runs. Claudia Kirchner opened the inning with a single, and she moved to second on a passed ball. A one-out sacrifice bunt moved her over to third, and from there she scored on a wild pitch, making it 1-0 Gaels. The inning wasn't over, though, as Hannah Ferguson followed with a walk to keep the pressure on, and that brought up Taylor Lane. The sophomore continued her great start to the season by ripping a double to center, scoring Ferguson and making it 2-0. Despite only scoring two runs in the game on just four hits, the Gaels didn't need anything else to secure the win.
 
OH MY, ODHI!
Gaels fans have already seen that freshman pitcher Odhi Vasquez is capable of some stellar performances, and she delivered another on Saturday afternoon. She went the distance for the Gaels while keeping Maine off the scoreboard, allowing just two hits and scattering three walks across her seven innings of work. She struck out five in the game and faced very minimal threats throughout the game. Twice, she stranded a runner on third base with two outs, but only saw the Black Bears put two runners aboard in the same inning once: the final inning. Maine got a base hit and an error with two down in the seventh inning, but a strikeout by Vasquez shut the door and gave the Gaels the win.
 
Game 2: Saint Mary's 4, Dartmouth 1
 
ALL THEY NEEDED EARLY
The Gaels got twice as many runs in the second game of the day, and they all came early on. Taylor Lane got things going in the first inning by doubling to left center, and with two down in the inning, she came in to score on an RBI single from Holly Lusk. The third inning is where the game busted open for Saint Mary's, with three straight singles from Rylee Gomez, Lindsay Cabral, and Hannah Ferguson, with the Ferguson single plating a run and making it 2-0. Lane then hit a sacrifice fly to make it 3-0, and then the fourth hit of the inning (from Taylor Keinath) capped off the scoring at 4-0.
 
BEST START OF HER CAREER
Saint Mary's got two complete games on Saturday, with the second one coming from Avrey Wolverton. She drew the start and did not disappoint while picking up her first win of the season, going the distance and allowing just one run while doing so, scattering five hits and two walks across those seven innings. She also limited the amount of trouble she got into, allowing two hits in the fourth, two runners in the fifth, but never allowed a runner to get past second base (aside from a home run in the sixth). Gaels pitching allowed just six hits across both games on Saturday.
 
UP NEXT
Saint Mary's will close out the month of March on the road, as they head east to take on Idaho State and Utah State next weekend. First up, Saint Mary's will play a doubleheader at Idaho State on Friday, March 24 before heading to Utah State to play three games beginning on March 25.