Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 FRESNO, Calif. — The Saint Mary's Gaels (4-3) opened up their second tournament of the young season with a split, falling to the Utah Valley Wolverines (1-4), 8-3, before defeating the Oregon State Beavers (3-3), 1-0. The Gaels had many of their newcomers in action in the tournament, and two of those youngsters, Mia Nishikawa and Sam Buckley, would share the spotlight, leading the Gaels to the day one split. 

GAME ONE: UVU 8 - SMC 3
It was a strong start for Saint Mary's to open the day in Fresno. Odhi Vasquez worked out of trouble in the top half of the first to keep the Wolverines off the board, and, in the bottom half, freshman Sam Buckley unloaded on a ball over the left field fence with Hannah Ferguson and Marissa Montelongo on to give the Gaels an early 3-0 lead. Unfortunately, that lead would not hold, as four runs in the third and four in the seventh would give the Wolverines more than enough to earn their first victory of the season. 

BUCKLEY ADDS ANOTHER FIRST
Freshman Sam Buckley put together an impressive debut weekend last week at Davis, going 5-for-12 with a double, triple, three runs scored and five runs driven in. That said, Buckley added another first in the first game of the Fresno State Invitational, with her first collegiate home run. No stranger to home runs, Buckley left the yard double digit times in her prep career at Burbank High School, and has already established herself as a huge threat in the Gaels lineup in just her freshman campaign. 

PERFECT DEFENSE
The Gaels defense was tested multiple times in this one, but left unblemished, not committing a single defensive miscue. Shortstop Tori Cervantes was the busiest player on the infield, with three assists and five putouts for a perfect 8-for-8 day in the field. Second baseman Marissa Montelongo went 4-for-4 on defense with two putouts and two assists, while third baseman Sam Buckley made the play on the only ball hit in her direction. Only one out was recorded in the outfield, belonging to center fielder Hannah Ferguson. 

GAME TWO: SMC 1 - OSU 0
It was an old school, pitching and defense kind of game two, with the Gaels reigning supreme by a narrow 1-0 margin. Mia Nishikawa kept the Beavers bats at bay all game long, and was able to work around traffic when Oregon State did get runners on base. Sam Buckley again was responsible for driving in the Gaels only run, pushing Saint Mary's ahead in the sixth inning with a lead they would not relinquish. 

GIVE HER THE HARDWARE (AGAIN!)
The defending WCC Pitcher of the Week, Mia Nishikawa already put her name in the mix for being a back-to-back winner of the award with her first complete game shutout and the first victory of her collegiate career. Nishikawa surrendered just four hits and fanned three while walking none. Entering the weekend, Nishikawa held a 1.97 ERA and a 0.84 WHIP. Those numbers fell even lower to 1.19 and 0.68 respectively. Nishikawa joins Odhi Vasquez as the second Gael to toss a complete game shutout this season. The Gaels had seven shutouts all of last season, but are up to two already in the first seven contests of 2024. 

THE GAME WINNER
While it wasn't a walk off winner, Sam Buckley's RBI triple in the sixth would prove to be the game winning hit in the 1-0 victory over Oregon State. With one out in the sixth, Marissa Montelongo reached first on a bunt single, and was erased on a fielder's choice. Hustle out of the box by Taylor Lane, however, kept the inning alive and brought Buckley to the plate with two away. Buckley stepped up to the plate and laced a ball into the left centerfield gap, and got the chance to show off her wheels, motoring all the way into third with her second triple of the season, plating Lane in the process. All that was left to do was for Mia Nishikawa to pick up six more outs in the circle, and she did just that as the Gaels ended their early three game skid with the win here. 

UP NEXT
Saint Mary's will be back in action for day two of the Fresno State Invitational, taking on Utah Valley once again, this time at 11:30 AM, before taking on host Fresno State at 4:30 PM.

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