 |
| Senior
lead-off hitter April Murray scored four runs and stole
three bases in UCR's two wins over Santa Clara. |
(March 26,
2008) – The UC Riverside softball team banged out 16
hits and scored 13 runs to take both games of a double-header
from Santa Clara, 8-7 and 5-4 Wednesday afternoon. Sophomore
designated player/ pitcher Marissa launched her team-leading
eighth home run of the season in game one and pitched all
seven innings to pick up the game two win for the Highlanders
(14-19).
Alvidrez went
4-for-4 and drove in four in game one as the Highlander's
top two hitters, senior right fielder April Murray and senior
left fielder Roni Yee, each recorded two hits and scored two
runs. In game two, junior first baseman Katie Curtis reached
base four times and Murray stole two bases and scored two
runs.
The Highlanders
struck first in game one, as Murray came across on a Santa
Clara (4-31) passed ball in the first inning to give UCR a
1-0 lead. Two innings later, Alvidrez hammered a two-run shot,
bringing home Murray who had singled to lead off the inning,
to put the Highlanders up 3-0. The UCR offense continued to
click an inning later as Yee brought home two more UCR runs
with a two-out base-hit to open up a 6-0 lead.
The Broncos
answered with single runs in the fourth and sixth before the
Highlanders put the game out of reach with two more runs in
the top of seventh. Alvidrez singled to right to score Yee
from second with no outs in the seventh, to pick up her fourth
RBI of the game. Freshman second baseman Taylor Thomas later
brought home the final UCR run with an RBI ground out to give
the Highlanders an 8-2 lead heading into the bottom of the
seventh.
SCU then put
together a rally off of UCR senior starter Christin Songer
in seventh. But after the Broncos had cut the Highlander lead
to 8-7, junior reliever Amanda Klimczak came in and recorded
the final two outs to preserve the win. Songer (5-5) earned
the victory after striking out three and allowing five earned
runs in her 6.1 innings of work and Klimczak claimed her first
career save.
In game two,
UCR again jumped out to an early 1-0 lead as Curtis brought
home Murray with a two-out RBI single. The Highlanders then
went up 5-0 after producing a four-run third. Senior third
baseman Kristie Martinez brought home Murray with a sacrifice
fly and Thomas followed with a double that scored Alvidrez
and Curtis before one more Highlander came across on a Bronco
error.
The lead stood
at 5-0 until SCU took advantage of UCR errors in the fourth
and fifth to pick up single runs and cut the Highlander lead
to 5-2. After making it through the sixth and getting the
first two batters in the seventh, Alvidrez ran into a little
trouble in closing out the game. SCU used a walk, a single,
and a double, all with two outs to bring two runs across and
get within one, 5-4. Alvidrez buckled down and got the final
batter to groundout to pick up the win.
Alvidrez improved
to 4-5 after striking out three and allowing just three earned
runs in her complete-game effort. Thomas finished with two
RBI, Alvidrez extended her hitting streak to nine games, and
with her two hits in game one and single in game two, Murray
now owns a 10-game hitting streak.
The Highlanders return home to open Big
West Conference play with a three-game series against UC Santa
Barbara beginning with a double-header on Saturday and single
game on Sunday.
|
