UCSB softball sweeps doubleheader with late-inning heroics

By ERIC BOOSE UCSB SPORTS

The UCSB softball team (13-8) conjured late-inning magic not once, but twice on Sunday to win both games of a doubleheader against Utah Tech (15-8) on the final day of the Bulldog Classic. The Gauchos tied game one in the top of the seventh inning and won it, 7-5, with two runs in the eighth, then walked off the Trailblazers with a three-run bottom of the seventh in game two.

GAME 1: GAUCHOS 7, TRAILBLAZERS 5

For the third game in a row, UCSB got on the board in the first inning, doing so in a big way Sunday morning. Jazzy Santos and Alexa Sams both delivered RBI singles, then Bella Fuentes tripled into the right-center gap to bring Santos and Sams home, making it a four-run inning for the Gauchos. Utah Tech came back, scoring three runs in the third, tying the game in the fourth, and taking a 5-5 lead in the fifth.

Santos’ second run-scoring single of the game brought UCSB level in the seventh, then Sam Denehy’s eighth-inning single put the Gauchos back in front. Ashley Donaldson’s base hit later in the inning brought Denehy around to score the seventh run of the game. Ava Bradford started game one for the Gauchos, working 3.2 innings before Ilona Sullivan relieved her. The senior finished the game, striking out six Trailblazers in her 4.1 innings of work.

GAME 2: GAUCHOS 4, TRAILBLAZERS 3

Playing as the designated home team in their final game in Fresno, UCSB saw their opponents score first for the first time all weekend, with Utah Tech taking a 2-0 lead in the second inning. Santos cut the lead to one in the bottom of the fourth with another RBI single, but the Trailblazers got that run back in the top of the seventh and took a 31 lead into the Gaucho half of the final inning. Pinch hitter Daryn Siegel drove in pinch runner Makayla Newsom with a single to cut the deficit to one, but was picked off trying to get back to first base, brining UCSB down to their final out. But then Denehy worked a walk, and Madelyn McNally’s double tied the game. Donaldson ended it with a double of her own, scoring McNally and completing the comeback. Camryn Snyder earned her second win in the circle of the weekend, giving up just one earned run on five hits, while striking out three.

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