SF State women’s softball team lost both double header games on Sunday afternoon, 1-2 and 4-5, splitting the series with California State East Bay 2-2 for the weekend.
Starting pitcher of the first game, Lindsey Cassidy, silenced the Pioneers for two innings until the team managed to score with a deep fly ball to left field. The Gators were unable to answer back as the Pioneers scored once more in the bottom of the fourth inning.
SF State and East Bay remained quiet with their bats as they took turns with great defensive plays from both sides, like Gator’s shortstop Kasie Trezona who had multiple diving plays.
“I felt really good defensively and I think I had a lot of great plays in the first game,” Trezona said.
The Gators continued to battle and eventually put up a run in the bottom of the seventh inning, but it wasn’t enough for the win.
“You know, every day is not our day but we still put up a fight until the end,” center fielder Alexis Mattos said. “I think we got a bit timid and we just weren’t hitting as well. Our energy wasn’t too bad and we just pushed through it.”
During the second game, pitcher Megan Clark continued to put pressure on the Pioneer’s offense as they were silenced for the first three innings. Come top of the fourth, East Bay had a three-run home run that allowed them to strike first, 0-3.
“It’s hard to come back and pitch to the same team two days in a row,” Trezona said. “All it takes is one pitch.”
The Pioneers added another run to the score in the sixth, but the Gators answered back with four runs of their own with the help of a two-run squeeze bunt from catcher Angelica Terrel.
“I had confidence in (Terrel) at the plate to do it and I knew Aryn (Guzman) had the speed to get there,” said head coach Lisa McKinney. “I was really excited – Clark did a great job of reading that – the ball got through to the backstop to get a quick jump home.”
Tied at 4-4, the Gators were unable to produce another run after the Pioneers scored once more resulting in a 4-5 loss.
“Today our offense didn’t execute with runners in scoring position, where yesterday we did a really good job of executing when we had runners on second and third,” McKinney said.
Despite splitting the series 2-2 with East Bay, the team continues to have a positive outlook and take losses as lessons for future games.
“We came back. It’s definitely a confidence booster for our team to know we are capable of scoring four runs in an inning,” McKinney said. “It’s nice to learn early in the season.”
