March 25, 2000

Box Score

BERKELEY - No. 4 California rallied from a 4-0 deficit to defeat No. 8 Stanford 6-5 in 12 innings in both teams' Pacific-10 opener Saturday. The Golden Bears improved to 37-4 (1-0 Pac-10), while the Cardinal fell to 28-4 (0-1 Pac-10) in front of 327 fans at Levine-Fricke Field.

Cal pitcher Jocelyn Forest went the distance, striking out a career-high 17 batters and giving up no walks and seven hits. Six of the strikeouts came in extra innings, and she also struck out five straight batters in one stretch in the second and third innings. Her previous high of 14 strikeouts came in a 2-0 no-hitter in eight innings against Massachusetts in the NCAA Tournament last year.

"Jocelyn Forest pitched an outstanding game," said Cal head coach Diane Ninemire. "She did a good job keeping the batters off balanced by mixing up the pace."

The game was tied at four through the regulation seven innings. The international tie breaker rule was invoked heading into the top of the 10th with the score unchanged. Stanford broke the deadlock in the top of the 12th inning when Kira Ching, who began the inning placed on second, scored on an error by third baseman Candace Harper.

With two outs in the bottom of the 12th inning and Stanford reliever Maureen LeCocq on the mound, Cal's best hitter Veronica Nelson stepped to the plate and Courtney Scott on third base and Pauline Duenas on second. Nelson singled sharply off the left field wall for her first hit of the game, scoring Scott to tie the game at 5-5 and moving Duenas to third. Second baseman Lisa Iancin then provided the final heroics with a single down the left field line to score Duenas for the game winner. The RBI was Iancin's second for the game.

"Going into the international tie breaker anything can happen," said Ninemire. "I'm proud of the way my team kept its composure and were able to pull off a comeback win."

Stanford jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the fourth inning courtesy of a home run by center fielder Jessica Mendoza. The Cardinal extended its lead to 4-0 with three runs in the sixth inning.

Scott ended Stanford starter Dana Sorensen's no-hitter with a single to open the Bears half of the sixth. Before the inning was over, Iancin, Harper, Eryn Manahan and Jennifer Deering were credited with RBIs as Cal tied the game at 4-4. Sorensen helped the Bears cause by walking Iancin and Deering, scoring two Cal runs.

These same two teams meet again tomorrow at Stanford at 1 p.m.

Softball Results
Cal vs. Stanford

Game 1
Stanford	000	103	000	001  ---	5	7	1
California	000	004	000	002  ---	6	8	3
W - Forest 17-2. L - Lecocq 4-1.

Records
California	37-4
Stanford	28-4