Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 RIVERSIDE, Calif. – Splitting its pair of games on Sunday (March 1), the University of California, Riverside (UCR) women's softball team shaded the University of Montana Griz, 3-1, before dropping the day's final game, 10-1, to the Michigan State University (MSU) in its Amy S. Harrison Classic softball tournament at the Amy S. Harrison Field on the UCR campus.
 
UCR (8-12) picked up its eighth win despite enduring a rain delay of 1:25 in the day's middle game, before having the run rule applied in the Classic's tournament nightcap. 
 
In that middle game, sophomore LF Nadia Witt (Keizer, Ore. / McNary HS) smacked a two-run single in the first inning, driving in senior 3B Emma Ramelot (Riverside, Calif. / Martin Luther King HS), who led off with a double, and senior RF Danielle Ortega (Granada Hills, Calif. / Bishop Alemany HS), who reached first base on an infield error.
 
The Highlanders' pitching tandem of junior starting RHP Caitlyn Rivera (Northridge, Calif. / Loyola Marymount U.) and sophomore RHP Megan Casper (Laguna Hills, Calif. / Laguna Hills HS) made those two runs stand. Rivera allowed two hits and a walk with one strikeout in the first 2.0 innings. Casper hurled the final 5.0 innings, and allowed only one run (unearned) on one hits and three walks, and endured that nearly 1-1/2-hour rain delay to get her first win of the season (1-4).
 
"They (Rivera and Casper) worked well together," said UCR fourth-year head softball coach Nikki Palmer.
 
In the nightcap against MSU (5-12), UCR narrowed the deficit to 2-1 after three innings before the Spartans exploded for six runs in the top of the fifth and added two tallies in the sixth to lead, 10-1, to have the run rule put into play.
 
In the UCR half of the third, Witt lofted a sacrifice fly, plating Ortega with the Highlanders' only tally.
 
After the first month of the season, Palmer continues to see progress.
 
"We've learned some and picked up a couple wins this weekend," continued Palmer. "We ran the bases really well and took advantage of some opportunities."
 
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In earlier action Sunday, Michigan State plated six runs in the bottom of the sixth to win, 11-3, the University of Nebraska, Omaha (Omaha) Mavericks (8-10).
 
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Through 20 games (all starts), Ramelot continues to lead the Highlanders in batting at .359 (23 for 64) with 13 runs (second-most) and a team-high eight doubles. Freshman SS Marissa Burk (Fontana, Calif. / Fontana HS) is next at .320 (16 for 50) with nine runs. Ortega (20 starts, .242, 15 for 62) leads with 14 runs scored, while junior C Kennedi Sorensen (Valencia, Calif. / New Mexico State U.), who has started 18 games, leads UCR with six home runs and 14 RBI.