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Box Score 2 SAN FRANCISCO –- The Pioneer women's softball team ended the 2013 campaign on a positive note following a 5-3 win over San Francisco State in the second game Saturday's doubleheader. In the first game, SF State shutout Cal State East Bay, 7-0.
East Bay concludes the season with a 17-35 record. The Pioneers (11-25) finished ninth in the CCAA. San Francisco State ended the season at 23-29 and 14-22 in CCAA play.
In the second game, the Pioneers took a 2-1 lead with two runs in the top of the third.
Shaunna Purkey opened the inning with a single and advanced to second on a sacrifice bunt.
Meli Sanchez drove in Purkey with a single.
Sara Holdridge followed with a double, scoring Sanchez with the second run of the inning.
Following a scoreless third inning, the Pioneers added to their lead with a run in the top of the fifth. Purkey led off the frame with a single and later scored on a base hit by Sanchez.
The Gators tied the score with two runs in the bottom of the fifth.
Lauren Zweigle relieved starting hurler
Kelsey Cairns and got the final three outs to prevent the Gators from taking the lead.
In the top of the sixth,
Emily Montanez,
Lauren Vestal and
Allison Noble came up with consecutive singles to load the bases. Montanez cross home plate with the eventual go-ahead run on a Purkey groundout.
Chelsie Kakela singled home
Nicole Adair with an insurance run in the top of the seventh.
“That was a great way to finish the season, and send our seniors out with a win,” Pioneer Head Coach
Barbara Pierce said. “We manufactured runs and fought hard for the victory.”
East Bay belted out 12 hits in the game-two victory. Sanchez was 2-for-3 with a run scored and two RBI. She had quite a series, going 7-for-13 at the plate. Sanchez led all Pioneer hitters with a .345 batting average in CCAA play this season. “Meli stepped it up and got hot the last two weeks of the season,” Pierce said.
Adair and Purkey had two hits each, while Holdridge belted her team-leading 14th double. “Sara contributed to the victory with a big RBI in the third inning,” Pierce added.
Zweigle hurled three scoreless innings to pick up her 12th win of the season. “Lauren came in and held the Gators scoreless the last three innings for the victory,” Pierce said. “What a great way for Lauren to end her four-year career.”
In the first game, Gator hurler Maria Ibarra blanked the Pioneers on four hits, one walk, and six strikeouts. Ibarra helped her own cause with a two-run homer in the bottom of the second inning.
The Gators added another run in the bottom of the fourth, and broke the game wide open with four runs in the bottom of the sixth. Gabby Reta and Courtney Gravel each had a two-run single in the frame.
Vestal had a pair of hits for the Pioneers in game one.
