Riverside—The UC Riverside Softball Team established a new Division I program record by winning 10 straight games. They won both games in a double header against Toledo, 5-3 in the first game and a 3-2 come from behind victory in the second.
In the first game of the day, the Highlanders got an all around offensive performance from Jenna Curtan, She went 2-for-3, drove in two runs, stole a pair of bases and scored a run.
UCR got on the board first, scoring two runs in the second inning on RBI hits by Chelsey Holley and Courtnie Ploesch. In the fourth, Curtan had a two out single that brought in Haley Harris and Hannah Rodriguez.
Erika Campbell knocked in Harris in the sixth to give the Highlanders a 5-0 lead.
Kaylynn Pierce pitched seven innings of five hit ball, allowing three runs, and striking out six. Pierce had a shutout going until the top of the seventh inning, when Toledo's Chandler Rice hit a three run homer to left field to make it a, 5-3 game. She would retire the next two hitters to end the game and earn her eighth win of the season.
In the second game of the day, UCR won in walk-off fashion with two runs in the bottom of seventh after staking the Rockets to a, 2-0, lead in the first inning. The Highlanders cut into the lead in the sixth, when Maddie Richard led off the inning with a triple, before coming in to score on Curtan's triple with two out.
To lead off the bottom of the seventh, trailing 2-1, Jenae Lockwood reached on an error. Shylene Helms came in to pinch hit and was hit by the first pitch of the at bat. Stephanie Tickemyer then sacrificed to move both Helms and Lockwood into scoring position. Rodriguez came to the plate and bounced a ball down the first base line forcing the first base man to tag her out and allow Lockwood to score the tying run. Richard then stepped to the dish with two outs and hit a routine ground ball to the shortstop, but the Big West's second leading base stealer hustled down the line to beat the throw, while Helms came in from third to score the winning run.
Tayler Misfeldt (9-4) went seven innings for the win, allowing just three hits over the final six innings, keeping the Rockets at close range and allowing the comeback to occur.
The Highlanders return to action Friday, March 11th in the Mizuno Classic at 11:30 am against Southern Utah at Amy S. Harrison field.
