MORAGA, Calif. — Saint Mary's (19-20) welcomed their East Bay rival, the California Golden Bear (29-14) to Cottrell Field for a Tuesday afternoon doubleheader. Both games saw the Gaels keep things tight through four innings, as Saint Mary's trailed 3-2 through four in game one, and were tied 2-2 through four in game two. Eventually, however, the Golden Bear offense would outlast the Gaels, winning both games 11-2 and 8-4. The pair of losses moved the Gaels to four straight defeats, matching their longest streak of the season.
GAME ONE: CAL 11 - SMC 2
The Golden Bear jumped out to a three run lead through three on the back of three solo shots, one in each of the first three innings. Mia Nishikawa limited the Golden Bears to just those three runs in the first three frames, before being lifted for Avrey Wolverton, who worked the first scoreless frame of the game in the top of the fourth.
Through the first three innings, the Gaels had been no-hit, as Sam Buckley led off the game with a four pitch walk, followed by nine straight retired batters by Cal pitching. Camille Lara broke that streak, leading off the fourth by being plunked, moving her on-base streak to 10 games in a row. Alex Cutonilli sent a ball to the warning track to right field, in which Lara was able to tag and advance to second, bringing Braxton Brown to the plate. The Gaels powerful sophomore designated player set a ball to the deepest part of center field, short hopping the wall for the first hit of the game for Saint Mary's, and plating Lara from second. Brown was run for by Julia Medina, who was then singled home with two outs by Victoria Castillo to bring the Gaels back within one. Kiah Silva would bloop a two out single to shallow left, but that would be it for the Gaels offense.
Cal, unfortunately, would close the game with eight unanswered runs off the Gaels bullpen, while not allowing a single Saint Mary's base runner throughout the remainder of the contest. Braxton Brown was the offensive standout for the Gaels in game one with a double and an RBI, while her pinch runner, Julia Medina would also score a run immediately following her double.
GAME TWO: CAL 8 - SMC 4
Odhi Vasquez got the start in game two, and despite a four walk first inning, surrendered just one run in the top half. The Gaels rallied in the bottom half, using a hit by pitch, an error, two walks and a sacrifice fly to take their first lead of the afternoon at 2-1. The two runs came in first on a bases loaded walk drawn by Victoria Castillo, followed by a bases loaded sacrifice fly off the bat of Tori Cervantes.
A leadoff walk surrendered by Vasquez in the top of the third would come around to score for Cal, leveling the game at 2-2, but Vasquez continued to keep the Golden Bear's bats at bay, surrendering no hits through the first 3.1 innings. Vasquez would surrender a double with one out in the fourth, but stranded the go-ahead runner at third with a massive strikeouts, one of her six.
In the fifth, however, Cal would strike for four runs with two outs in the frame, including two on a costly error to push the Golden Bears lead out to 6-2. Ella Thurman came on in relief of Vasquez in the sixth and worked a scoreless top of the sixth.
The bats came to life in the bottom half of the sixth, as both Braxton Brown and Tori Cervantes mashed solo home runs to deep left center to bring the Gaels back within two runs. Cal would get those two runs back in the seventh, and the Gaels would go down in order to close the game with Golden Bears earning their second straight win over the Gaels 8-4.
Tori Cervantes was responsible for driving in two of the Gaels four runs for the day. Both Cervantes and Braxton Brown homered, making this game the Gaels tenth multi home run game of the year. With 31 home runs this season, the Gaels are now just seven shy of the single season program record, set in 2012.
Saint Mary's will welcome Santa Clara to town for a three game set this Friday and Saturday. First pitch Friday is set for 3 PM, while Saturday is a scheduled doubleheader set to start at noon. The Gaels are just 1.5 games back from the first place Broncos, meaning a series win for the Gaels would move them to first place in the WCC.
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