ARCATA, Calif. - The UC San Diego softball team, on the losing end of a doubleheader sweep Saturday with No. 6 Humboldt State, have fallen to 13-13 in California Collegiate Athletic Association play.
For the second day in a row the Tritons managed a late inning rally but couldn't overcome a combination of tough Lumberjack hitting and pitching. HSU, now 40-14 overall and 17-7 in CCAA action, took Saturday's contests by scores of 2-0 and 5-3, dropping UCSD to 28-18 this season.
Triton rightfielder Allison May, featured in the lineup's No. 3 spot, continued her hot hitting in the losing effort and has now hit safely in 13 of the last 14 games.
Lumberjack head coach Frank Cheek again chose to start Lizzy Prescott in both games and the decision proved to be a smart one. In game one, Prescott threw a complete-game shutout. UCSD's only hits, from May and junior first baseman Jenni Habib, both came in the top of the seventh inning. Sophomore Amanda Eliades stepped to the plate with two outs representing the go-ahead run but lined out to HSU's third baseman to end the contest.
In the second game, Prescott matched up with Triton junior Lauren Chastain. The Lumberjacks scratched away for a run in the bottom of the second inning but that proved to be the only score for either team through the first five innings.
UCSD freshman Katrin Gabriel collected a one-out single in the top of the sixth inning to reawaken the Triton attack. May followed with a double to put runners on second and third. Habib knocked a base hit to score both Gabriel and May, putting UCSD up 2-1 and giving the team its first lead of the series.
Chastain loaded the bases with no outs to open the bottom half of the inning, leading Triton head coach Patti Gerckens to bring game one starter Melissa Ward in for relief. After Ward induced a fly ball for the first out, HSU second baseman Caitlin Klug clubbed a grand slam to put the Lumberjacks back on top, 5-2.
In the top of the seventh inning, Eliades doubled and later scored on a Sarah Woofter groundout but the Tritons eventually fell, 5-3.
With the four-game sweep, HSU slides into the top spot in the CCAA. Cal State Stanislaus, after splitting another doubleheader Saturday against San Francisco State, falls into second place.
UCSD returns home on Friday to challenge Cal State Dominguez Hills starting at 1 p.m. in a two-game set rescheduled from earlier this season. On Sunday, the Tritons play a doubleheader with NAIA opponent Cal State Marcos on the UCSD campus beginning at 11 a.m. in what will be Senior Day.
