STOCKTON, Calif. — Saint Mary's softball closed out the month of April with a bang, quite literally. Their offense exploded for one of their best showings of the season in their series finale against the Pacific Tigers on Sunday afternoon. The Gaels used three home runs to their advantage en route to an 8-2 victory to clinch the series win. SMC is now 17-25 (7-5) and has tied the most conference wins in a season under head coach Sonja Garnett.
 
HOME RUN DERBY
Saint Mary's has struggled to score runs at time this season, but a lot of that comes from a lack of thump in the lineup. Entering this three-game series against the Tigers, Saint Mary's only had four home runs on the year. That total doubled after this weekend, with a home run in the series opener, and then three more on Sunday. Taylor Lane got the party started with a leadoff solo home run in the sixth inning, her second of the weekend, to make it a 4-1 Gaels lead. Two batters later, after a Jenavee Amador single in between, Alex Casas launched her first home run of the season, making it 6-1 Gaels. Casas wasn't done either, sending one out to left center in nearly the same spot in the seventh inning, which capped off the scoring at 8-2. It is the first multi-home run game by a Gael since Julia McCormick on March 7, 2020 against UC Santa Barbara.
 
STRIKEOUT MACHINE
While home runs might have been half of the story, the other half came from the start by Odhi Vasquez. The freshman from Upland has led the team in strikeouts all season long, but she reached a new level on Sunday. In a complete game winning effort, Vasquez struck out a career-best 14 Tigers, meaning only seven outs came from non-strikeouts. The first seven outs of the game came via the punch out, and she was still going strong by the end of the game, striking out two in the seventh inning. Going as far back as records go at Saint Mary's, it is the most strikeouts in a single game by a Gael since at least 2001, and quite possibly the most in a single game in program history (Katie Moss had 13 in a game in 2017).
 
REST OF THE OFFENSE
The Gaels offense scored multiple times aside from the long ball, enough to give Vasquez plenty of run support along the way. In the third inning, Tori Cervantes plated a pair of runs with a two-run single, which got the Gaels on the board. In the fourth inning, it was Marissa Nishihara hitting a sacrifice fly to right field scoring Allyssa Alano and making it 3-0. After the home runs in the sixth, it was Nishihara who singled home a run with some help on a throwing error. All told, nine Gaels either had a hit or scored a run in the game.
 
UP NEXT
Saint Mary's will take a brief hiatus from West Coast Conference play this week and play a pair of non-conference doubleheaders. First up is a trip to the valley to play Fresno State on Tuesday, starting at 3:30 pm. Saint Mary's will then return home where they will square off against Sacramento State in a home doubleheader on Friday, May 5 starting at 1:00 pm. Those two home games serve as Faculty Appreciation Day at Cottrell Field.
 
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