Riverside, Calif.— The UC Riverside Softball Team (26-17, 3-6) fell 6-1 to CSUN (18-29, 3-6) Sunday afternoon in the final game of the conference series, giving the Matadors the series 2-1.

CSUN got going early with a run in the top of the 1st and grew its lead adding four in the 5th and one in the 7th to take a 6-0 lead heading into the final half inning.

The Highlanders fought hard offensively putting the ball in play in nearly every at-bat, as only one batter was struck out all day, but did not get on the scoreboard until the bottom of the 7th.

With two outs in the final inning, UCR refused to be shutout as sophomore Emma Ramelot stepped to the plate and roped a double to left center, her 2nd hit of the weekend. Head Coach Nikki Palmer then brought in Rebecca Faulkner to pinch hit and the senior was successful dropping in a base hit just inside the 1st base line to drive in Ramelot from 2nd and cut the lead 6-1. Junior Amanda Lynch was next to bat sending a deep fly ball within inches of the fence, but CSUN would record the final out.

UC Riverside collected four hits in the game scattering them out among four different players. In addition to the hits in the 7th by Ramelot and Faulkner, seniors Jenae Lockwood and Jenna Curtan also added singles in Sunday's game.

Over the weekend Lockwood and Curtan found success at the plate batting .500 and .444, respectively. Lynch and Ramelot got the runs on the board for the Highlanders combining for 5 RBI in the series.

Defensively, pitcher Hailey Dolcini boasted a 1.80 ERA over the weekend tossing a no-hitter in game one and sophomore Hailey Marschall made two solid relief appearances giving up just one hit and one run in three innings.

The Highlanders are on the road next weekend continuing Big West play in Davis, CA. UCR and UC Davis (22-16, 4-5) will have a double header this Saturday starting at 1:00 PM and a single game the following day at 1:00 PM.