A new season got underway for the Cal State East Bay softball team over the weekend with a new coach at the helm.

The season started for the Pioneers and new coach Claire Sua Amundson with a road trip to San Rafael on Saturday to take on Dominican College at Penguin Field. The Pioneers left with a 1-1 split after they dominated the first game 9-3, and fell in the second contest 6-4.

Senior pitcher Sierra Clark and most valuable player on last year’s team, picked up where she left off last season and dominated the Penguins on the hill. Clark pitched 6 innings and recorded 7 strikeouts for her first victory of the season after she held Dominican scoreless.

It was a day of long balls for the offense as the Pioneers had three players blast home runs. Pioneer freshman outfielder Courtney Leyba blasted a homer over the center field wall for a quick 1-0 advantage. The score stayed that way until the fourth inning when junior catcher Ali Cerminara drove a home run over the left field wall for a 2-0 CSUEB advantage.

Later that inning senior outfielder Mia Ramirez scored on a Penguins throwing error and then junior infielder Marisa Lerma knocked in freshman Sierra Sabathia which made the score 4-0.

CSUEB senior Rose Marston kept the homers coming in when she roped a homer to left center field in the top of the sixth inning to make the score 5-0 in favor of the Pioneers. CSUEB added on three more runs in the seventh inning, which made the score 9-0 before the Penguins added three runs of their own in their last at bat to make the final 9-3.

“I had good pitch selection, used the whole field, and I could feel that my coaches and teammates trusted that I was going to get the job done,” Marston said. “We jumped right on their pitchers in the first game. Our bats were hot and we were hitting all through the lineup.”

Dominican woke up in the second game of the double header despite giving up an early lead to CSUEB. Marston continued her hot start and knocked in 2 runs on a double to left center field in the first inning for a quick 2-0 lead. The Penguins got on the scoreboard in the third inning when they scored 3 runs on hits by senior outfielder Tori Johnson and junior Katelyn Harden that made the score 3-2.

The Penguins added 2 more runs in the bottom of the fifth inning. Harden recorded her second RBI of the day after she drove in a run with a single and freshman Haley Cheek knocked in the other run after she singled off of CSUEB freshman pitcher Bailee Glover that made the final score 6-4. Glover picked up the loss for the Pioneers while Dominican sophomore pitcher Gaby Katafias got the win and sophomore Kelsey Goodner got the save.

“We lost that game to our defense – gave them a few runs they didn’t earn,” Marston said. “That’s definitely an area we will be focusing on at practice before going down to San Bernardino.”

The Pioneers will play two doubleheaders this weekend when they travel to San Bernardino to take on the CSUSB Coyotes (5-2 overall). The games are scheduled for noon and 2 p.m. tomorrow and 11 a.m. and 1 p.m. on Saturday at CSUSB Softball Park.