MORAGA, Calif. — Wednesday afternoon marked the end of a brutal stretch for Saint Mary's softball: seven games in five days in three different cities. That all ended at Cottrell Field, as Saint Mary's hosted Cal for a non-conference affair. A tired Gaels team showed a ton of fight against the Golden Bears, but their offense could not get on the board in what turned out to be a 1-0 defeat. Saint Mary's drops to 15-24 and has now lost six of the last seven games.
 
WOOLSEY WOWS
To say that Wednesday's performance was one of the best in the career of Marissa Woolsey would not be an exaggeration. She was spectacular against a great Golden Bears lineup, and was plenty good enough to win the game. In her first start since the season opener, Woolsey went the distance, tossing all seven innings without allowing an earned run. Yes, she did allow eight hits and walked five while also hitting two batters, but she successfully pitched around traffic all game long. This was highlighted in the third and fourth innings, where she stranded the bases loaded in consecutive innings. In the third, she got a fielder's choice and a fly out to get out of a jam, and in the fourth, she used her only strikeout of the game to get the second out in a bases-loaded situation.
 
The only time that she let a run cross came in the top of the second inning, when the Gaels defense didn't help Woolsey out. A leadoff single follow by a stolen base put a runner in scoring position with nobody out. A ground ball to first base was bobbled by Taylor Lane on the very next at bat, which resulted in an error and a run scored, making it 1-0 Cal. While the Golden Bears put a runner in scoring position in every of the game, Woolsey was evading enough barrels at the right time to keep Saint Mary's in a position to come back.
 
OFFENSIVE OUTPUT
It seemed like Saint Mary's was on the verge of getting no-hit for the second time in three days, as Annabel Teperson was on fire for Cal. The sophomore pitcher retired the first 13 hitters of the game, taking a perfect game into the fifth inning. Jenavee Amador worked a walk, and later in that inning, Lindsay Cabral reached on a fielding error, but the Gaels could not score. In the bottom of the sixth, Saint Mary's got their only hit of the game on a Victoria Castillo pinch-hit single to open the inning, and after another error by Cal, the Gaels had runners on the corners with just one out. A line out and a groundout ended the threat, and SMC went down quietly in the seventh.
 
UP NEXT
Saint Mary's will enjoy the next two days off before getting back into conference play with a three-game series in Stockton against the Pacific Tigers. The series kicks off on Saturday at noon with a doubleheader, and will conclude on Sunday with a single game at noon. Pacific is the only team in the WCC without a conference win this season, starting the year 0-9 in the WCC.