LA JOLLA, Calif. ? The UC San Diego softball team split its Sunday afternoon CCAA doubleheader with Cal State San Bernardino, winning game one by a 3-2 margin in extra innings before dropping the nightcap by a 10-2 score in six innings. With the split the Tritons' record goes to 19-17 overall and 14-8 in CCAA play while the Coyotes' mark goes to 19-13 overall and 11-9 in league action.
In game one the Tritons got an unearned run in the bottom half of the eighth inning to pull out the slim 3-2 victory. Amanda Eliades reached on a throwing error by Jamie Lowe to begin the inning and advanced to third after singles by Allison May and Randelle Bundy. She scored the game-winner on an infield single by Danielle Lukk that just slipped under Lowe's glove at second base.
Melissa Ward picked up the win for the Tritons and improved to 15-5 on the season. She allowed the two CSUSB runs while scattering eight hits and striking out seven.
Tawni Baker took the loss for the Coyotes and fell to 7-8 on the season. She allowed only two earned runs on 10 UCSD hits while walking five and striking out four.
In game two CSUSB got three runs in the second inning and one more in the third to take a 4-0 run before the Tritons answered back with two runs of their own in the bottom half of the third frame. Jenny Maze picked up both of UCSD's RBI with her single up the middle.
The Coyotes broke the game wide open in the top half of the fourth inning, scoring five runs on four hits. Leslie Carrasco and Krista Hernandez each had two-run doubles while Megan Spano had a RBI triple. CSUSB added one more run in the top of the sixth to force the mercy rule after shutting down the Tritons in the bottom half of the frame.
Lauren Chastain took the loss for UCSD and fell to 3-9 on the season while Jordan Dahl improved to 6-4 with the win for the Coyotes. Chastain allowed eight runs, only five of which were earned, on nine hits in only three innings of work.
Head coach Patti Gerckens' squad returns to action next weekend at the Mizuno Tournament of Champions hosted by Cal State Stanislaus in Turlock, Calif. The three-day even is scheduled to take play on Friday, March 30th through Sunday, April 1st.
The Tritons are scheduled to play Western Oregon, Seattle University and St. Martin's on day one of the tournament before taking on Chaminade and Hawaii Hilo on day two. Their opponents on day three will be determined by pool play results.
