In a double header against California State University, San Marcos Friday, the Gators walked away splitting the games in half 6-1 and 1-2.
In game one, Gator pitcher Megan Clark came out and held on strong, not allowing the Cougars to score through seven innings.
At the top of the second inning, first baseman Sara Higa found herself with the first run of the day thanks to the sacrifice fly from third baseman Gabby Reta. Higa lit up the scoreboard 3-0 from a two-run homerun over the center field fence.
“I played against the first pitcher in high school — I kind of had an idea of what she was going to throw,” Higa said. “I saw it and I adjusted, luckily it went over the fence.”
The Gators continued their rampage, stacking three more runs in the bottom of the sixth with a combined effort from the team, including a two-run RBI double from catcher Celeste Adriano.
“I just like to remain calm and see my pitch and find it,” Adriano said. “I’m very patient at the plate and I like to look low and inside.”
SF State walked away with the first game win, but dropped the second game against the Cougars.
“We might’ve went in thinking that we are going to win because we won the first game,” head coach Lisa McKinney said.
Game two was a battle of the defenses and pitchers. Pitcher Aryn Guzman threw five complete innings allowing no runs.
Higa once again illuminated the scoreboard with a solo shot over the left field fence in the bottom of the second inning. Her home run was the only run the Gators saw in the second game.
During the five innings with Guzman, the Cougars were suppressed and unable to answer back to Higa’s homer. At the top of the sixth, San Marcos took a 1-2 lead, capitalizing on Gator errors and took game two.
“Unfortunately, in the sixth inning we just had too many errors,” McKinney said. “If we clean up the sixth inning, we come out of that game 1-0, but that’s not what happened so we just learn from it.”
The Gators will face off against San Marcos again tomorrow at 11 a.m and 1 p.m. McKinney believes her team will come back with a new approach that will have the Gators walking away with the series win.
“Just making an adjustment early and putting pressure on their defense as early as we can,” McKinney said. “I was just really excited to see them play to what they’re capable of because we haven’t really shown it often in our games so it was nice to see today, and I’m looking forward for more of that for future games.”
