After April showers postponed UC Davis softball’s season opener against Long Beach State, the Aggies looked to turn their luck around when they traveled to Northridge, Calif. to take on Cal State Northridge in the next three games of Big West conference play.
The Aggies dropped all three games to Long Beach in the season opening series at home in Davis, Calif., and looked to put some much needed wins on the board versus the Matadors.
Unfortunately, the athletes were unable to come away with the series, but they did snag one win from Northridge, putting their current conference record at 1-5.
Northridge came into the series with an overall record of 23-13 and 1-2 in the Big West. In the series opener on April 5, the Aggies were unable to wake up the bats as the Matadors recorded their first win at home versus the Aggies since 2010. After falling 5-1 in the weekend opener, UC Davis still had plenty of softball to play as the teams began their second game of the day.
Fighting back in the second game of the doubleheader, the Aggies were able to take down the Matadors at Matador Diamond, 5-4, marking UC Davis’ first conference win of the year. Big contributions from several UC Davis players aided in the 5-4 victory. Sophomore Lauryn Saunders belted her fourth home run of the year to put the Aggies atop the Matadors in the third inning. Northridge was unable to answer back after Saunders’ blast, as the Aggies cruised to that 5-4 victory.
In the final game of the three-game series on April 6, UC Davis could not find a rhythm at the plate falling to the Matadors, 4-0. However, several positives can be taken from the loss. Sophomore Christa Castello went 2-for-4 on the day, leading the team in hits. Unfortunately, her teammates were unable to score Castello in six innings of play, as runners left on base killed the Aggies in that matchup.
Other high points from that third game came from the feet of sophomore Cat Guidry, who recorded her eighth stolen base of the season, putting her in second place behind freshman Brianna Warner on the Aggies’ overall base-stealing leader board.
With two losses and one win this past weekend, the Aggies fall to 1-5 in Big West conference play, with their next series coming up fast versus Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo on April 12 and April 13.
Cal Poly holds a current overall record of 21-14 and 3-3 in Big West play. The Aggies will need to come out firing from the first pitch if they want to see any hope of making it to playoffs come mid-May. Every game from here on out is a must win for UC Davis, as their season is quickly coming to a close and their number of win opportunities is rapidly dropping.
First pitch versus the Mustangs is at 4 p.m. on April 12 in San Luis Obispo, Calif.
SLOAN BOETTCHER can be reached at sports@theaggie.org.
