HAYWARD, Calif. - A day after clinching the California Collegiate Athletic Association regular season title for the first time in program history, the No. 10 UC San Diego softball team split its final two games of the season with Cal State East Bay, falling to the Pioneers, 11-3, before using a two-out rally in the top of the ninth to take a 4-1 win in the final game of the series at Pioneer Softball Field on Saturday afternoon.

UCSD (34-11 overall, 22-9 CCAA) swept CSUEB (24-27 overall, 14-22 CCAA) on Friday afternoon, so Saturday's games served as an opportunity for the Tritons to hone their skills for next weekend's CCAA Softball Championships in Stockton. Coming into the weekend, UCSD needed to win three of four games in the CSUEB series to guarantee itself a conference championship. However, second-place Sonoma State split four games with Cal State Dominguez and Cal State Monterey Bay took a game from third-place Chico State on the opening day of their respective series', guaranteeing UCSD the No. 1 seed in the postseason tournament. Just to play it safe, the Tritons picked up their third win of the CSUEB series on Saturday.

The Tritons' 34 wins during the regular season matches the school record (for Division II) and and the team set a school record for the highest win-percentage (.755) since the school moved to Division II in 2001.

Four homeruns by CSUEB batsmen doomed UCSD in the opening affair, as the Pioneers batted .407 on their way to an 11-3 win in just six innings. Only six of Jenn Manuel's (2-4) 11 charged runs were earned, however, the Tritons mustered just five hits in support of their starter. Jennifer De Fazio, Mya Romero and Charly Swanberg connnected with RBI singles as UCSD pulled within 4-3 heading to the fourth, but six runs and a grandslam by Nikki Freiberg put the game out of reach. The Pioneers set a season high for runs scored in a game against the Tritons in 2011, and Taylor Neumann's solo homerun in the sixth gave CSUEB an eight-run margin to clinch the first run-rule victory by any team over UCSD this season.

As short as the opening affair was, the season finale proved to be a marathon as UCSD ace Camille Gaito (25-2) set a career high with 12 strikeouts while limiting the Pioneers to a single run and eight hits in nine innings of work.

Catherine Schorn scored Renave Gamson with an RBI double to give CSUEB the lead in the fourth inning, but Kris Lesovsky responded with her fifth homerun of the season to tie the game at 1-1 in the sixth. The Pioneers would place runners on second base in each of the sixth and seventh innings, but Gaito was able to fend-off the threat each time. UCSD limped into its at-bat in the top of the ninth after CSUEB pitcher Kelly Lowe retired the side in order in the seventh and eighth innings, respectively.

After a groundout by Taylor Sepulveda and a pop-out from Lesovsky, Sarah Woofter was hit by a Lowe delivery to give the Tritons a baserunner with two outs. Woofter broke the stalemate on the next play, scoring all the way from first thanks to an error by CSUEB shortstop Gamie Yaller on Romero's groundball. Romero, who advanced to third on the prior play, then scored on Neumann's failed pick-off attempt from home to third, giving the Tritons a 3-1 advantage.

Swanberg, the hero of Friday's title-clinching game two, popped the first homerun of her Triton career off Lowe to cap-off a huge weekend for the freshman. Swanberg was 3-for-8 (.375) with four RBI in the series, none bigger than Friday afternoon's two-out two-RBI single in the sixth inning to give the Tritons a 2-1 lead in their title-clinching game two win.

The Tritons' 22 conference victories matches a school record (2004)  and the team's win percentage (.710) in the CCAA is a program-best since UCSD joined the conference in 2001. UCSD, who was picked to finish fifth in the CCAA Preseason Coaches Poll released on January 25, will make its third appearance in next weekend's CCAA Championships and first since 2009.

In 2009, UCSD advanced to the CCAA championship game against Cal State Monterey Bay, however, the game was cancelled due to inclement weather. The Tritons will open the 2011 CCAA Championships against fourth-seeded Cal State Dominguez Hills on Friday, April 29 at 4:30 p.m. in Arnaiz Stadium.

CSUDH was the only team to take a series from UCSD throughout the regular season, as the Toros dropped the Tritons in three of four contests at Toro Softball Diamond, March 11-12.