TURLOCK, Calif. - The No. 9 UC San Diego softball team defeated Cal State Stanislaus, 7-2 and 6-4, on Saturday afternoon at Warrior Softball Field, taking three of four games in the series while increasing its lead to one and one-half games over Sonoma State for first place in the California Collegiate Athletic Association.
The pair of wins improves the Tritons to 29-8 overall and 17-6 in CCAA play. SSU split its Saturday doubleheader with Cal State Monterey Bay, moving the Seawolves to 16-8 in conference play heading into the UCSD-SSU series at Triton Softball Field next weekend. Cal State Stanislaus drops to 19-28 overall, 12-20 CCAA.
Camille Gaito earned the win in both contests while improving her record to 21-1. Her 2011 win total is the third-most in a single season in UCSD history and is also a career high. She struck-out a career-high 10 Warriors in UCSD's game one victory in which CSUS never really posed a threat.
The Tritons put two runs on the board in the first inning thanks to a sacrifice fly from Nicole Spangler to score Kris Lesovsky and a Caitlin Brown groundball that drove-in Mya Romero. Gaito would limit the Warriors to just three hits in CSUS's first four at-bats and be rewarded with a Triton three-run fourth inning to extend UCSD's lead to 5-0.
After Spangler doubled to lead off the fourth, her pinch-runner, Katrin Gabriel, scored on a sacrifice bunt to make it 3-0. Dyanna Imoto would draw a walk and Sarah Woofter singled to put two Tritons on board with two out. Jennifer De Fazio followed a double, driving-in Imoto and leaving Woofter on third base. Woofter would eventually score on a wild pitch.
CSUS would tack-on two runs in the bottom of the sixth on a two-RBI single by Vanessa Del Toro. The Warriors put together three hits in the inning, but both runs were unearned due to an error in the outfield from the Tritons.
Lesovsky would add an RBI single in the sixth and Romero would score on another CSUS wild pitch to give UCSD's its final 7-2 victory. The complete game was Gaito's 17th this season, two away from matching her 2010 total.
CSUS would tag UCSD starter Tess Granath (6-5) for two runs in the opening inning of the second game of the day, but the Tritons scored a pair of runs in their next at-bat thanks to an untimely throwing error by the CSUS pitcher Brittani Weatherford.
Spangler would strikeout to open the third but reach first base safely thanks to the ball careening to the back stop on a wild pitch. Lyndsay Gaylord pinch-ran for Spangler and advanced to third on a single by Brown. Gaylord crossed the plate a play later, as the slow grounder from the bat of Esther Strom provided just enough time for her to score and make it 3-2. Strom got her second RBI of the afternoon two innings later, singling down the line to score Romero and put UCSD up by two.
CSUS would get to Granath again in its half of the fifth, as Missy Corrall homered to even the score at 4-4. Granath would finish the inning with a strikeout and give way to Gaito in the top of the sixth to CSUS would get to Granath again in its half of the fifth, as Missy Corrall homered to even the score at 4-4. Granath would finish the inning with a strikeout and give way to Gaito in the top of the sixth to finish out the game. Gaito would give up a double to the first batter she faced, but steadied her nerves to retire the next three batters in the sixth.
Tied heading into their final at-bat, the Tritons once again took advantage of a CSUS error, as Taylor Sepulveda scored from second on another wayward through from the pitcher's mound. Strom added her third RBI of the game two batters later, singling to drive-in Imoto and make it 6-4.
The Warriors would put runners on first and third with one out in the bottom of the seventh, but Gaito got the next two batters to popout and groundout, respectively, to end the ballgame.
UCSD's final home series of the season is next weekend, April 15-16, against second-place Sonoma State at Triton Softball Field. Friday's doubleheader will start at 1:00 p.m. while Saturday's will get underway at 11:00 a.m. Prior to Saturday's match-ups, UCSD will celebrate the team's seniors for their years of service to the softball program.
