Four UC Davis pitchers combined to string 14 zeroes across the scoreboard in the Aggies’ doubleheader sweep against the University of Hawaii softball team on Saturday in Davis, Calif.
UC Davis seniors Leah Munden and Justine Vela turned in the Aggies’ third shutout of the season in a 1-0 win in the first game at La Rue Field. UC Davis then claimed the series win when Andrea Reynolds and Sara Cadona blanked UH 3-0 in the finale.
UH (17-19, 1-2 Big West) matched UC Davis (13-17, 2-1) with five hits in the first game and seven in the second, but couldn’t push a run across in either game and was shut out in a doubleheader for the first time since losing to BYU 4-0 and Iona 1-0 in nine innings on March 17, 2011. UH’s last such sweep in a conference series was back on April 6, 2003, when Fresno State shut out the Wahine 7-0 and 6-0.
Other than a four-run fourth inning in UH’s win in the series opener on Friday, UC Davis kept UH off the scoreboard in the remaining 20 innings. The Aggies lowered their team earned-run average from 4.27 to 3.94 over the weekend. UH went 0-for-9 with runners in scoring position on Saturday.
“Our bats went silent,” UH coach Bob Coolen said in a phone interview. “Pitching was there, hitting was suspect, situational hitting was suspect, execution was suspect. … We didn’t move runners over today like we did (Friday), we didn’t hit timely and we just left a lot of runners on base.”
UC Davis third baseman Christina Guidry, the ninth hitter in the Aggies’ lineup, accounted for the lone run in the opener with her first home run of the season and second of her career. Her shot to left field off of UH starter Jennifer Iseri was also just the sixth of the season for UC Davis.
Munden held UH to five hits, struck out two and walked one in 61⁄3 innings and Vela worked out of a jam in the seventh after UH put runners on second and third with two out to earn the save.
Kanani Aina Cabrales relieved Iseri in the fourth inning and allowed one hit and struck out three in 32⁄3 innings of shutout relief. In the second game, Brittany Hitchcock held UC Davis to three hits in the first four innings before the Aggies broke through with three runs in the fifth and she took the loss.
“Brittany looked fresh and Nani looked lights out,” Coolen said. “Jen got all her pitches up high and they were hitting her hard.”
UC Davis took the lead in the second game on Megan Salazar’s RBI single and Alexis Carney’s two-run triple in the fifth inning. After Reynolds gave up singles to Tayana Mata and Keiki Carlos to start the sixth inning, Cadona retired all six batters she faced to earn her second save of the season.
UH returns home for a series against Cal State Northridge starting Friday at Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium.
“We’ll come home and regroup and see what we have on board and go from there,” Coolen said.
BIG WEST SOFTBALL
Conference |
Overall |
|
W |
L |
Pct. |
GB |
W |
L |
CS Fullerton |
2 |
0 |
1.000 |
— |
27 |
10 |
UCSB |
2 |
0 |
1.000 |
— |
19 |
17 |
UC Davis |
2 |
1 |
.667 |
1/2 |
13 |
17 |
Long Beach St. |
1 |
1 |
.500 |
1 |
21 |
12 |
CSUN |
1 |
1 |
.500 |
1 |
21 |
15 |
Hawaii |
1 |
2 |
.333 |
1 1/2 |
17 |
19 |
UC Riverside |
0 |
2 |
.000 |
2 |
23 |
11* |
Cal Poly |
0 |
2 |
.000 |
2 |
16 |
13 |
*denotes a tie for overall record |
Saturday
UC Davis 1, Hawaii 0
UC Davis 3, Hawaii 0
CSUN 2, Long Beach State 1, 8 inn.
Long Beach State 3, CSUN 2
UC Santa Barbara 2, Cal Poly 1
UC Santa Barbara 3, Cal Poly 0
Cal State Fullerton 9, UC Riverside 1, 6 inn.
Cal State Fullerton 2, UC Riverside 1
Today
UC Riverside at CS Fullerton
Cal Poly at UC Santa Barbara
Long Beach State at CSUN
Saturday
CSUN at Hawaii, 6 p.m., Rainbow Wahine Softball Stadium
At Davis, Calif. |
Hawaii (17-18) |
000 |
000 |
0 |
— |
0 |
5 |
0 |
UC Davis (12-17) |
001 |
000 |
x |
— |
1 |
5 |
0 |
Jennifer Iseri, Kanani Aina Cabrales (3) and Rachel Lack. Leah Munden. Justine Vela (7) and Taiya McInnes. W–Munden. L–Iseri. Sv–Vela.
Leading hitters–Hawaii: Tayana Mata, 2-3, 2B. UC Davis: Meghan Bradbury, 2B; Christina Guidry, HR.
Hawaii (17-19) |
000 |
000 |
0 |
— |
0 |
7 |
0 |
UC Davis (13-17) |
000 |
030 |
x |
— |
3 |
7 |
0 |
Brittany Hitchcock, Kanani Aina Cabrales (5) and Rachel Lack. Andrea Reynolds, Sara Cadona (6) and Alexis Carney. W–Reynolds. L–Hitchcock.
Leading hitters–Hawaii: Keiki Carlos, 2-3; Nicole Lopez, 2-3. UC Davis: Taylor Peters, 2-3; Carney, 3b, 2 RBIs; Ashley Lotoszynski, 2-3; Kelly Zboralske, 2B; Megan Salazar, RBI.