HAYWARD, Calif. -- The Cal State East Bay softball team celebrated "Senior Day" on Sunday by picking up its third win of the season over a nationally ranked opponent. The Pioneers walked off with a dramatic 2-1 victory over No. 18 Chico State in game one, then the Wildcats bounced back to split the doubleheader with a 8-0 win over CSUEB in the series finale. 

East Bay (15-27, 10-20 CCAA) snapped Chico State's 14-game winning streak behind an outstanding performance by senior Sierra Clark. The Wildcats, who entered the series ranked No. 2 in the West Region, are 33-11 overall and 24-10 in conference play after taking three out of four games in the series.

The morning started with an emotional pre-game ceremony to honor the eight seniors who will complete their CSUEB careers at the end of the season. By the time Clark threw the game's first pitch at 11 a.m., temperatures were already in the 70's on a perfect sunny day overlooking the Bay at Pioneer Field. 

The Pioneers committed a pair of errors in the top of the first, which led to a Wildcat run. But East Bay answered right back, as Rose Marston led off the bottom of the inning by blasting her fourth home run of the season to left-center. 

Clark dominated the Wildcat batters the rest of the way, allowing just two hits over six scoreless innings. Chico ace Brook Langeloh matched her zero for zero, racking up 11 strikeouts. The score remained 1-1 heading into the bottom of the seventh. 

With two outs and nobody on base, freshman Courtney Leyba ripped a double into the left-center gap. That brought up Marston, East Bay's leading hitter for the season with a .341 batting average. She lifted a high pop up into shallow left field, and for a moment it appeared the game was headed for extra innings. But the left fielder missed the ball, allowing Leyba to come around and score the winning run.

Clark improved to 9-11 with the win and lowered her season ERA to 1.77, needing just 87 pitches for the complete game. There were only six total hits in the contests -- three by each team. Langeloh suffered just her second loss of the season to fall to 17-2.

The second game of the doubleheader followed a similar script through the first six innings, as both starting pitchers were effective. The Pioneers left the bases loaded in the third when Chico right fielder Ari Marsh made a leaping catch on senior Allison Noble's line drive to save three runs. Wildcats finally broke the scoreless tie the following inning by pushing across an unearned run against senior Tatiana Beilstein.

Chico tacked on another run in the sixth, then pulled away in the seventh. A two-out error extended the inning, and then the floodgates opened as the Wildcats hung six runs on the board to seal the win.

Beilstein suffered yet another tough-luck loss despite allowing just one earned run on five hits in six innings of work. Chico hurler Haley Gilham picked up the victory with six scoreless frames.

Noble and fellow senior Mia Ramirez both recorded hits on Senior Day. Junior catcher Ali Cerminara was the only Pioneer with multiple knocks, finishing 2-for-3 with a double. 

The Pioneers have just one day off before they're back in action against another tough CCAA opponent. East Bay and Cal State Monterey Bay will makeup their series that was rained out back on Mar. 4-5 with doubleheaders this Tuesday and Wednesday at Pioneer Field.