Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 ARCATA, Calif. – Three home runs including a pair off the bat of Jaynie MacDonald paced Cal State East Bay softball to a 5-1 road win over No. 6 ranked Humboldt State in the weekend series finale on Saturday. The Jacks earned a 4-0 game one victory to take the series, winning three of four contests.

Third inning home runs from MacDonald and Ali Cerminara broke a scoreless tie to give the visiting Pioneers a 3-0 lead. East Bay tacked on a run in the fifth, and for good measure MacDonald led off the top of the seventh with a solo blast over the left field wall.

Starting pitcher Emily Perlich (3-10) performed double duty on Saturday as she was in the circle to begin both contests. In game two she allowed only one run despite surrendering 10 base hits and two walks to Humboldt State (24-7, 14-6 CCAA). She did damage control with runners on base as the Jacks stranded 11 runners, going 4-for-16 (.250) with runners aboard including 0-for-3 with the bases loaded.

"This was a huge win for us. Jaynie came up big for us all weekend," praised East Bay Head Coach Barbara Pierce. "Emily threw 19 innings in 26 hours to the sixth ranked team in the country and only gave up eight earned runs. It was a career defining performance for her this weekend."

HSU starting pitcher Liz Perez (6-3) suffered the loss after allowing three runs in three innings. Madison Williams allowed two runs (one earned) and struck out six batters in four innings of relief.

Tiffany Hollingsworth and Hannah Williams combined to go 6-for-10 at the plate and drive in the team's lone RBI of the game. The rest of the Jacks were 4-for-20 (.200) against Perlich with one extra base hit.

The Cal State East Bay victory snapped an 11-game road losing streak and ends Humboldt State's seven-game winning streak. The home loss was only the third this season (9-3) for the Jacks.

"We are putting it together and hitting our stride. Hopefully this will be a turning point for us in our season moving forward," said Pierce.

In Saturday's opener HSU starting pitcher Katie Obbema (12-4) tossed a complete game shutout. She held the Pioneers to just four singles and struck out a pair for the victory. In the series she was 2-0 with a save, a 0.44 ERA, and held the Pioneers to a .154 batting average over her 16 innings.

For the eighth time in 14 starts the East Bay offense supplied Perlich with one run or less of support. She struck out five Jacks in her six innings while allowing four runs off eight hits.

HSU's Hollilngsworth supplied the first two runs of game one with RBI-singles in the first and fifth innings. The Jacks led by a slim 1-0 lead until run-scoring base hits from Hollingsworth, Dani Randall, and Julie Peña in the fifth pushed their advantage to four.

EB's MacDonald, Cerminara, Meli Sanchez, and Nikki Foster each singled in the loss. MacDonald extended her team-best hitting streak to six games and went 5-for-12 (.417) over the weekend.

Cal State East Bay (9-17, 6-14 CCAA) will host Dominican (11-8) in non-conference action on Sunday, March 23, starting at Noon.

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