Riverside—The UC Riverside Softball Team fell, 4-1, in the first of two games versus Saint Mary's and tied, 5-5, after nine innings played in game two.
Saint Mary's 4, UC Riverside 1In game one of day, the Highlanders were defeated, 4-1, by the Gaels. UCR got on the board first, when Freshman Jenae Lockwood hit her first career homerun over the fence in left field in the bottom of the second inning.
Tayler Misfeldt held Saint Mary's scoreless until the top of the fourth, when the visitors scored two runs on an RBI double and a single.
In the top of sixth Saint Mary's got a two out hit with a runner on that scored came around to score from second. Two batters later, they a double to left center that plated another run and gave them a 4-1 lead.
Gaels starter Katie Moss allowed just four hits and kept UCR scoreless over the final five innings to even her record to 8-8. Misfeldt fell to 14-5 on the year with the loss.
Saint Mary's 5, UC Riverside 5The second game of the day ended in a, 5-5, tie after nine innings due to an arrangement made to accommodate the travels needs of Saint Mary's, who required a hard 4 pm stop time for the game that began at 1:30 pm.
Tied, 3-3, in the top of the seventh, the Gaels got what appeared to be the winning run with a bases loaded walk to go ahead, 4-3.
In the bottom of the seventh, Maddy Richard got a lead off single up the middle and was moved over on a Haley Harris sac bunt. Jenna Curtan stepped into the box with two out and laced the first pitch she saw down the left field line, scoring Richard and tying the game. Curtan stole second, but the Highlanders couldn't get her home and would go into extra innings for the first time this season.
Both teams failed to score in the eighth inning. In the top of the ninth inning, Saint Mary's sacrificed the runner placed on second via the tiebreaker rules over to third. The next hitter doubled to left field, scoring the runner from third, but they would get no more as the next two hitters grounded out to Harris, who retired them cleanly.
UCR began the bottom of the ninth trying to tie the game and beat 4 pm on the clock. Courtnie Ploesch, who was placed on second, was moved over to third by a Hannah Rodriguez sacrifice. Richard came up next and doubled to left field, scoring Ploesch and tying the game. Richard hustled over to third on a fly ball out to center and the next hitter struck out right at the 4 pm deadline for the game, which would end in a, 5-5, tie.
The tie was the first for the Highlanders since joining the Big West in 2002. They return to action Saturday April 2 at Cal State Fullerton in a conference opening double header.
