HAYWARD, Calif. -- The Cal State East Bay softball team dropped both ends of its doubleheader Friday to 15th-ranked Cal State Monterey Bay on the first day of California Collegiate Athletic Association (CCAA) play.

On a beautiful sunny day at Pioneer Field, the defending CCAA regular season champion Otters impressed offensively, winning by final scores of 9-1 and 8-4. The Pioneers are now 2-4 in the young season and have lost four straight.

The first game of the day was not competitive for very long, as CSUMB found holes all over the field against Pioneer ace Abby Greer. The Otters scored six runs on six hits in the opening frame, putting the Pioneers in a hole before they got a chance to bat.

Courtney Hennings made it 9-0 in the fourth with a three-run home run against CSUEB reliever Taylor Lara, who was otherwise effective in 4.0 innings of work out of the bullpen.

That was more than enough support for Otter starter Hayley Fein, last season's CCAA Freshman of the Year. The Pioneers got one run back in the bottom of the fourth when Sarah Fukushima and Maddie Ramirez traded doubles, two of CSUEB's three hits in the game. But it wasn't enough to avoid the eight-run rule, as Fein closed out the five-inning victory for Monterey.

After pitching just one inning in the first game, Greer got the start again in game two. She was much more successful early this time, holding the Otter offense in check though the first four frames as she matched zeroes with CSUMB starter Morgan Hawkins.

The visitors finally got to Greer in the fifth, using five hits to hang four runs on the scoreboard. The Pioneers answered back with a two-out rally in the bottom of the inning. Three straight singles by Kassie Kochan, Jocelyn Baldon, and Jennifer Palmares made it 4-1, but Hawkins escaped the frame without further damage.

CSUMB tacked on two more runs in the sixth on an inside-the-park home run by Marissa Hukkanen. Rachel Tadlock got one of those back for the Pioneers when she belted her first career home run over the center field fence in the bottom of the inning, the first round-tripper of the year for East Bay.

The Otters took advantage of two defensive errors to plate two more runs in the seventh inning, damaging CSUEB's hopes of a comeback in their final at bat. The Pioneers didn't roll over without a fight, though. Belle Placencia pinch-hit to lead off the inning and was hit by a pitch. Two batters later, she came around to score on a single by Baldon. Courtney Leyba plated the fourth East Bay run with a single up the middle, but Fukushima followed with a ground out to end the game.

The Otters out-hit the Pioneers 13-8 in the second game, as Palmares, Kochan, and Baldon led the way with two hits each.

The four-game series between the two teams concludes on Saturday with another doubleheader scheduled for 12:00 p.m., as the Pioneers look to notch their first CCAA victory.