Pioneers come back from deep end against UCSD Tritons
April 23, 2015
Back-to-back losses on Friday could have ruined senior day on Saturday for the Cal State East Bay softball team. However, the Pioneers bounced back and won both games against the UC San Diego Tritons that made senior day a memorable one.
The Pioneers are now 25-22 overall and 13-19 in California Collegiate Athletic Association Conference play this season. The Tritons are now 24-22 overall and 14-18 in CCAA conference games this season.
After a 10-0 drubbing by UCSD in game one, the Pioneers bounced back in game two thanks in large part to a dominant pitching performance from senior Emily Perlich. Perlich threw 156 pitches in 10 innings and gave up just one earned run despite pitching through a shoulder injury from earlier in the season. However, the Pioneers couldn’t muster up enough offense despite the strong performance from Perlich and fell 1-0.
“It felt like the longest game of my life, to be honest,” Perlich said. “I’m still in disbelief that I was able to throw all of those innings with my shoulder injury, but it’s just a testament to my teammates for their support the entire time. I couldn’t have made it through without them and they came through and never gave up in every game, win or lose.”
CSUEB seniors Alex Vela (left) and Jaynie MacDonald celebrate a scoring play earlier this month at Pioneer Softball Field on the Hayward campus.Perlich injured her shoulder last season and rehabilitated her pinched bicep tendon and degenerative tearing on her labrum all summer to be ready for this her final season at CSUEB.
The game was scoreless in the top of the tenth inning when Tritons freshman catcher Lauren Sanders laced a single to left center field that scored UCSD sophomore Bianca Devoto for the game-winning run.
“Offensively we put ourselves in a position to win. Unfortunately they just scored first,” CSUEB Head Coach Barbara Pierce said. “It was a great bounce back game for us. We showed character in coming back after the opening game.”
The losses could have easily dampened the senior day festivities on Saturday, but the Pioneers won both games and sent their eight seniors home with wins in their final home games.
CSUEB won the first game 5-2, and dominated in the final game of the series that ended with a final of 8-0.
“I think the difference between the two days came down to the adjustments we made offensively and defensively,” Perlich said. “We made better decisions and ultimately, the outcome came out better for us.”
Perlich picked up the win in game one, her third of the season and junior Gabby Gonzalez led the way with three hits in four at bats and drove in two runs in the victory. Senior outfielder Jaynie MacDonald also knocked in two runs when she belted her team-high 13th home run this season to right center field in the bottom of the third inning.
MacDonald stayed hot and blasted her 14th home run of the season in the bottom of the third inning and also recorded two hits and three RBI’s. Junior pitcher Sierra Clark picked up her twelfth win of the season for CSUEB as she gave up just three hits and no runs in a five inning complete game effort.
“With it being senior day everyone had a sense of urgency,” CSUEB senior Kelsey LaVaute said. “We wanted to play for each other and the other seniors. We went out and had fun instead of being uptight because we have nothing to lose at this point. We want to get a .500 season, but playoffs are gone for us so we came together and are working towards that goal.”
The Pioneers have just four games remaining in the regular season a road trip to San Francisco to take on SFSU (11-37 overall, 6-26 conference) on Friday and Saturday. The teams will play a doubleheader on both days at SFSU softball field at 1 p.m. on Friday and noon on Saturday.
