LA JOLLA, Calif. - Two runs from junior McKenna Clewett en route to a 2-1 victory in game two propelled the UC San Diego softball team to a mid-week season-opening split with Azusa Pacific. The Tritons dropped game one at Triton Softball Field, 1-0, despite a near late-game rally.
Clewett finished the doubleheader with two runs and four hits. Sophomore Emma Schneider also highlighted the day with two RBI and three hits. Left-handed pitcher Alexis Edwards picked up the win in game two after coming in for three hitless innings of relief while fanning two batters.
Down 1-0 in the bottom of the sixth in the first game, Schneider led off the inning with a double to right field. Freshman Lauren Sanders then laid down a bunt to advance Kendall Woken, who came in to pinch run for Schneider, to third. Unfortunately, the Tritons (1-1) couldn't drive in the tying run as the next two batters went down swinging.
UCSD had another chance to strike in the final frame. After Mo Omori, who relieved starter Hannah Duarte in the seventh, retired the Cougars in order, the Tritons found themselves with bases loaded in the bottom of the inning.
With one out, Rachel Phillips singled down the left field line. Then Taylor Abeyta knocked a double along the left field line to advance Kendall Baker, who was running for Phillips, to third base. Clewett then drew a walk to load the bases, but once again the Tritons couldn't capitalize.
UCSD out-hit Azusa Pacific, 7-6, in the first contest, but stranded nine runners. Clewett and Phillips led the Tritons with two hits each, and Kelsi Maday, Abeyta and Schneider all recorded one in the loss.
After failing just shy of a come-from-behind victory in the first game, UCSD proved in the nightcap that it could take the lead late in a contest.
The Tritons got off to an early lead in game two. Clewett led the charge in the bottom of the first with a double to left field. She then moved over to third on a fielder's choice and crossed home plate on an RBI single from Schneider.
Despite loading the bases in the fourth inning, the Cougars couldn't produce a run until the fifth frame when they tied the game up at one apiece on an unearned run. But UCSD pulled ahead in the sixth.
Once again Clewett led off the inning with a double and then advanced to third on a bunt from Woken. And just like the first inning, Schneider drove in Clewett on a single, giving the Tritons the eventual 2-1 win.
The Tritons tallied five hits in the final game of the doubleheader. Clewett and Schneider knocked two apiece and Sanders earned the first of her career.
As part of the 12-game homestand to start the year, the Tritons play a four-game series with St. Martin's. Games one and two will be on Saturday, Feb. 7 with a start time of 12:00 p.m. On Sunday at Triton Softball Field, the series will conclude with a doubleheader also starting at noon.
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