Teams: UC Davis; Saint Mary’s
Records: Aggies: 11-22 (0-3); Gaels: 12-17 (0-0)
Where: La Rue Field — Davis, Calif.
When: Saint Mary’s: TBA
Who to Watch:
With Winter Quarter and tournament season finally behind them, UC Davis softball was ready to come home after being on the road since mid-February, playing their last 17 games away from Davis, Calif.
In preparation for their league opener against always solid Long Beach State, the Aggies were scheduled to take on Saint Mary’s in a doubleheader March 26. However, Mother Nature had different plans.
With a mid-week downpour, the games versus the Gaels were postponed, with the reschedule date still undecided. Unable to have the opportunity to shake off some of the rust after their long stint away, the athletes then had to face the 49ers in now their first games back on the field after a long period away.
Coming into their Big West League opener versus Long Beach State, several players who performed well throughout February and March are expected to do big things for the team coming into league play.
In particular, sophomore Kelly Zboralske earned Field Player of the Week from the Big West Conference after performing solidly throughout tournament play, especially during the Stanford Louisville Slugger Classic on March 8 and March 9. Zboralske is the first Aggie since 2011 to receive this honor. She holds a current batting average of .313 and a stellar fielding percentage of .939.
Dominating on the mound, freshman right-hander Dana Cruse has been pitching well for the Aggies so far this season. As of March 25, Cruse sat in 96th place in NCAA national rankings for shutouts, with two. She currently maintains an ERA of 4.35, and at such a young age is expected to continue to do big things and grow with the team.
Preview:
Unfortunately, it appears those warm-up games versus the Gaels would have done the Aggies well, as Long Beach took down UC Davis in both games this past Sunday, March 30, 8-0 and 9-1.
The Aggies were not able to fight off the 49ers’ onslaught, as the Big West games of 2014 commenced on La Rue Field. Long Beach’s bats were on fire throughout both games and UC Davis was unable to respond, scoring only one run in the first two games of league play.
With the last game of the series being pushed back to March 31 at 10 a.m., the athletes hope to take at least one from Long Beach, giving the team some momentum as they move on to face Cal State Northridge in Northridge, Calif, April 5 to April 6, in the next round of Big West Conference play.
There is plenty of softball to be had in the second half of the season for the Aggies, with this last game versus Long Beach, followed by three-game series versus Northridge, Cal Poly and UC Santa Barbara, all counting towards Big West Conference standings.
— Sloan Boettcher
