UC Davis Softball opens season 3-2 at NorCal Kickoff weekend
The Aggies start the season with mixed results
By MIKALA SLOTNICK — sports@theaggie.org
The UC Davis softball team began their season on Feb. 5 with their annual NorCal Kickoff weekend tournament. Coming from a 15-36 record in the 2025 season, the Aggies went 3-2 in home games, led by Head Coach Erin Thorpe.
For the Causeway Cup, the Aggies fell 8-1 to the California State University, Sacramento Hornets in their season opener on Feb. 5. Since 2004, the Aggies have gone 20-30 in games against the Hornets. Starting pitcher Ashely Sawai, a third-year human development major, allowed two home runs from Sacramento, allowing the Hornets to take the lead 4-0 by the end of the second inning. Last season, Sawai pitched in 33 games with a total of 148.2 innings pitched, had 96 strikeouts and finished with an 11-13 record.
Making her collegiate debut, Ellena Ediss, a first-year psychology major, relieved Sawai and pitched five innings, striking out four batters and allowing four more runs from the Hornets.
Highlights of the game were Marley Panziera, a third-year communication major, who stole her first base of the season. Last season, Panziera played in and started 51 games and was ranked 20th in the Big West Conference for assists. In the bottom of the sixth inning, Alyssa Dethlefson, a second-year human development major, stole a base and scored the only point of the game from a run-batted-in (RBI) by Naomi Kalanetra, a second-year neurobiology, physiology and behavior major.
The Aggies then faced the University of San Diego Toreros on Feb. 6 and 7. Sawai pitched four innings and only allowed one base runner in the third before Caroline Grimes, a fourth-year managerial economics major, took over. Grimes was unhittable in the first two innings pitched, and only gave up one earned run and three hits while striking out five.
The Aggies took the lead in the fourth inning when an overthrown ball to Abby Lee, a first-year design major, enabled Panziera, who was on base from a walk, to score. The Toreros tied the game 1-1 at the top of the Feb. 6 game, but did not take the lead due to Alyssa Dethlefson, a second-year human development major, throwing out a second runner at home. The game was still tied 1-1 by the end of the seventh inning, leading to overtime.
Due to tournament rules, a ghost runner was placed on second base to start the eighth inning, and that runner for San Diego would eventually come around to score. Sydney Polli, a fourth-year psychology major, took her spot at second base and, after moving to third off a Dethlefson single, she scored the tying run, avoiding two attempts from the Toreros’ catcher to tag her out. Keira Brady, a second-year neurobiology, physiology and behavior major, hit a walk-off RBI, which led Dethlefson sliding to home base and guaranteed the Aggies a walk off victory, ending with a score of 3-2.
The Aggies rematched the Toreros on Feb. 7, defeating them 9-1 in five innings. Grimes pitched three innings while only giving up one run, and Maia Scholtens, a first-year managerial economics major, made her collegiate debut by earning a two-inning save, putting up zeros across the stat line while allowing just one base runner. Brady was a key player, going three-for-four with two RBIs and three runs scored.
The Aggies fell to Colorado State University Rams for their last game on Feb. 7, with a final score of 7-2, but finished out the tournament with a 3-2 win against Saint Mary’s College Gaels on Feb. 8.
Written by: Mikala Slotnick — sports@theaggie.org