Saturday, May 9
Santa Clara, CA
1:00 PM
Saint Mary's College of California
40-14, 0
11
at
3
Santa Clara
26-25, 0
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | Runs R | Hits H | Errors E |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Saint Mary's | 2 | 3 | 0 | 4 | 2 | 11 | 10 | 1 |
| Santa Clara | 0 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 3 | 8 | 2 |
Braxton Brown: 2-for-4 5 RBI
Photo by: Saint Mary's Athletics / Tod Fierner
SB | Gaels Make Even More History, Reach 40 Wins with 11-3 Win at Santa Clara
5/9/2026 5:09:00 PM | Softball
SANTA CLARA, Calif. — The Saint Mary's softball team will take some momentum into the 2026 NCAA postseason after an emphatic 11-3 run-rule victory over Santa Clara on Saturday afternoon at the Santa Clara Softball Stadium.
After being limited to just six runs over the first two games of their final West Coast Conference series, the bats came to life for the Gaels in the finale, scoring five runs in the first two frames to set the tone early in the eight run win. The win marked the 40th this season for the Gaels, as Sonja Garnett's 2026 squad joins only Miles McAfee's 1977 Gaels Baseball team as the only two programs to reach 40 wins in a season in Saint Mary's history.
Both Hannah Ferguson and Sam Buckley went unretired in the contest, each reaching base four times. Ferguson tallied three hits and was plunked once, scoring three times to break the single season program runs record, now having scored 50 times this year. Buckley reached four times without swinging the bat, walking three times and being hit once by a pitch, also scoring three runs. Braxton Brown was the beneficiary of Ferguson, Buckley and others being on-base ahead of her, as she drove in five, adding to her single season RBI record, now with 54. Mia Zabat tallied a pair of hits and scored twice, and Ella Thurman went the distance in the circle for the second time in as many outings and fourth time this season.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Gaels (40-14, 15-3 WCC) jumped ahead by five runs in the blink of an eye, surpassing their run tally in both games one and two against the Broncos (26-25, 11-7 WCC) in just the first two frames of game three. Hannah Ferguson got things going with a one out single in the top of the first, followed by Sam Buckley being hit by a pitch. After the two each moved up 60 feet on a Braxton Brown flyout, Alex Cutonilli sent an opposite field single to right, plating both.
Ella Thurman worked around a two out double in the bottom of the first, and the Gaels added three insurance runs to start the second. Mia Zabat led off the inning with a single and scored on a Ferguson infield knock, and, after Buckley worked a walk, Brown would cash both of them in on a pure single out to center.
The top of the fourth was the biggest offensive frame for the Gaels, as Camille Lara and Buckley each worked walks sandwiching another Ferguson infield single to load the bases for Brown. This time, Brown drove a ball all the way to the wall in center, plating Lara and Ferguson, and, on an errant throw, Buckley would score as well, clearing the bases. Brown would score on a sacrifice fly off the bat of catcher Andrea De La Rosa and midway through the fourth the Gaels led 9-0.
Santa Clara would end Ella Thurman's scoreless inning streak at 8.1 frames dating back to her last start, breaking through for three runs in the bottom of the fourth, with just one of those charged as earned. The Gaels quickly got back into run rule territory in the top of the fifth. With one out, they would load the bases for Buckley, who would work her fourth free pass of the game to make the lead seven runs. Then Brown would drive in her fifth run of the game on a fielder's choice, making it 11-3. Thurman allowed a leadoff single in the bottom of the fifth but rolled a double play before inducing the game-ending flyout to right to end the afternoon early.
GAME NOTES
#GaelsRise
After being limited to just six runs over the first two games of their final West Coast Conference series, the bats came to life for the Gaels in the finale, scoring five runs in the first two frames to set the tone early in the eight run win. The win marked the 40th this season for the Gaels, as Sonja Garnett's 2026 squad joins only Miles McAfee's 1977 Gaels Baseball team as the only two programs to reach 40 wins in a season in Saint Mary's history.
Both Hannah Ferguson and Sam Buckley went unretired in the contest, each reaching base four times. Ferguson tallied three hits and was plunked once, scoring three times to break the single season program runs record, now having scored 50 times this year. Buckley reached four times without swinging the bat, walking three times and being hit once by a pitch, also scoring three runs. Braxton Brown was the beneficiary of Ferguson, Buckley and others being on-base ahead of her, as she drove in five, adding to her single season RBI record, now with 54. Mia Zabat tallied a pair of hits and scored twice, and Ella Thurman went the distance in the circle for the second time in as many outings and fourth time this season.
HOW IT HAPPENED
The Gaels (40-14, 15-3 WCC) jumped ahead by five runs in the blink of an eye, surpassing their run tally in both games one and two against the Broncos (26-25, 11-7 WCC) in just the first two frames of game three. Hannah Ferguson got things going with a one out single in the top of the first, followed by Sam Buckley being hit by a pitch. After the two each moved up 60 feet on a Braxton Brown flyout, Alex Cutonilli sent an opposite field single to right, plating both.
Ella Thurman worked around a two out double in the bottom of the first, and the Gaels added three insurance runs to start the second. Mia Zabat led off the inning with a single and scored on a Ferguson infield knock, and, after Buckley worked a walk, Brown would cash both of them in on a pure single out to center.
The top of the fourth was the biggest offensive frame for the Gaels, as Camille Lara and Buckley each worked walks sandwiching another Ferguson infield single to load the bases for Brown. This time, Brown drove a ball all the way to the wall in center, plating Lara and Ferguson, and, on an errant throw, Buckley would score as well, clearing the bases. Brown would score on a sacrifice fly off the bat of catcher Andrea De La Rosa and midway through the fourth the Gaels led 9-0.
Santa Clara would end Ella Thurman's scoreless inning streak at 8.1 frames dating back to her last start, breaking through for three runs in the bottom of the fourth, with just one of those charged as earned. The Gaels quickly got back into run rule territory in the top of the fifth. With one out, they would load the bases for Buckley, who would work her fourth free pass of the game to make the lead seven runs. Then Brown would drive in her fifth run of the game on a fielder's choice, making it 11-3. Thurman allowed a leadoff single in the bottom of the fifth but rolled a double play before inducing the game-ending flyout to right to end the afternoon early.
GAME NOTES
- Saint Mary's picked up its 40th win of the season today, making them the first Gaels athletic team to reach that mark since the 1977 baseball team.
- The Gaels also won their 15th WCC contest, the most of any team since the conference began sponsoring softball in 2014.
- Saint Mary's won every conference series this season, another program first.
- Hannah Ferguson extended her hit streak to 12 straight games, going unretired in four plate appearances.
- Ferguson also broke Sam Buckley's single season runs record from a year ago, scoring three times to run her WCC-leading tally to 50 runs scored.
- Speaking about Buckley, the junior also went unretired, reaching three times via the base on balls, and once being hit by a pitch. That ran her season on-base percentage to .521.
- Braxton Brown drove in five for the Gaels for her second 5+ RBI game this season. She added to her program single season record RBI tally, now with 54.
- Freshman Andrea De La Rosa logged her eighth collegiate hit, and her fourth collegiate double, driving in a run in the process.
- Mia Zabat had her first mulit-hit ballgame since March 27 against Pacific.
- Ella Thurman worked her second consecutive complete game in as many outings, moving to 7-4 in the victorious effort.
- Saint Mary's rose to 20-0 when scoring at least seven runs in a game, and to 31-4 when scoring first.
#GaelsRise
Team Stats
Pitching:
W: Thurman, Ella (7-4)
L: MANLEY, Kendal (1-1)
Batting:
2B: De La Rosa, Andrea 1
RBI: Ferguson, Hannah 1 ; Buckley, Sam 1 ; Brown, Braxton 5 ; Cutonilli, Alex 2 ; De La Rosa, Andrea 1
SF: De La Rosa, Andrea 1
Base Running:
RUNS: Lara, Camille 1 ; Ferguson, Hannah 3 ; Buckley, Sam 3 ; Brown, Braxton 1 ; Medina, Julia 1 ; Zabat, Mia 2
SB: Ferguson, Hannah 1 ; Buckley, Sam 1 ; Cervantes, Tori 1 ; Zabat, Mia 1
CS: Cervantes, Tori 1
HBP: Ferguson, Hannah 1 ; Buckley, Sam 1
Batting:
2B: GRAY, Hazyl 1 ; BALMEDIANO, Robynn 1 ; OLSHENSKE, Mackenzie 1
RBI: DAVIDSON, Leiora 1 ; OLSHENSKE, Mackenzie 1
Base Running:
RUNS: MARTORELLA, Marie 1 ; BALMEDIANO, Robynn 1 ; KOWALESKI, Cienna 1
Game Leaders
AB
3
R
3
H
3
RBI
1
AB
4
R
1
H
2
RBI
5
AB
3
R
2
H
2
RBI
0
AB
3
R
0
H
1
RBI
2
Players Mentioned
P/INF
/ SoftballINF
/ SoftballINF
/ SoftballC
/ SoftballOF
/ SoftballOF
/ SoftballP/INF
/ SoftballINF
/ SoftballSB | Saint Mary's at Santa Clara Highlights, 5-9-26
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