SF State softball won both games of a doubleheader against Notre Dame De Namur on Monday, Feb. 19 at SFSU Softball Field by scores of 6-1 and 7-0.

The team won the first game by opening with a two-run first inning, and they never looked back. They added a run in the second frame but did the bulk of their damage in the fifth inning, with three runs crossing home plate.

Senior catcher Angelica Terrel set the tone early for SF State on defense by picking off Notre Dame senior outfielder Alessandra Giannavola, who doubled to start the game.

“It was great to get her off and back up my pitcher,” said Terrel. “We shut down the rest of the inning, which was great.”

After giving up the leadoff double to Giannavola, senior pitcher Lindsey Cassidy would give up little else. She left the game after the fifth inning, having given up three hits and one earned run to go along with four strikeouts.

If the Gator’s defense set the tone early in game one, an offensive explosion in the first inning of game two was sweet music to SF State head coach Alicia Reid’s ears.

“Our aggressive baserunning definitely helped us and led to some runs by creating havoc on the bases and making them try to make plays,” said Reid about the five-run first inning the Gators put up. “They made a few mistakes and we took advantage of that.”

Reid told her players before the second game to “keep swinging the bat and they would fall,” in reference to a well-hit but caught line drives from game one.

And fall they did, with the Gators sending up their entire batting order in the first inning. Andrea Hildan, Michelle Castro, Sara Higa, Mallory Cleveland and Kylee Brown would all score for the Gators and effectively ended the contest in the first.

Hildan singled off of Notre Dame sophomore pitcher Audree Vicory to start the inning and promptly stole second base.

She would come home to make the score 1-0 off of Michelle Castro’s single, who would also steal second and then third.

Sara Higa reached first on a walk and stole second, and Castro would go on to score on a throwing error by Notre Dame, putting up the Gators’ second run and moved Higa to third.

Vicory followed a strikeout of sophomore first baseman Katie Rohrer by walking Mallory Cleveland. A wild pitch then scored Higa and advanced Cleveland to second.

An error by Notre Dame freshman shortstop Megan Lawson allowed freshman catcher Kylee Brown to reach first and Cleveland to score, making it 4-0 in favor of the Gators.

Sophomore designated player Savannah Ozuna then doubled to score Brown.

The inning would end this way as sophomore Jenee Wilson flew out.

From there, freshman pitcher Sam Drucker took control as she threw five innings of scoreless ball with only four hits allowed.

When Drucker got into trouble, her defense bailed her out. Wilson saved her from an extra base hit on two outs in the fifth inning with a diving catch in right field.

“It felt good and we definitely needed it after this weekend to get our confidence back up,” Drucker said.

SF State would put another two runs on the board in the fourth inning to make the game’s final score 7-0.

The doubleheader win snapped a three-game losing streak for the Gators and set them up nicely for a Friday home doubleheader against Academy of Art at 10 a.m.