May 15, 2010

Final Stats

BERKELEY - The No. 13/12 California softball team gave its seniors - Marissa Drewrey, Shannon Houston, Taylor Kelly, Vernae Sevilla and Shannon Thomas - a great finish to the 2010 regular-season with an 11-3 mercy victory on Saturday over Oregon State. The Golden Bears had 11 runs off 12 hits and three Beaver errors while OSU scored three runs thanks to six hits and two Cal errors. With the win, the Bears close the regular season at 41-17 overall and 10-11 in the competitive Pac-10 Conference while the Beavers' season concludes at 24-31 and 4-17 in the Pac-10. In the bottom of the first, the Bears scored seven runs with five hits and two OSU Beavers to pull ahead early. Cal tacked on two more runs with three hits and another Beaver error in the third, taking a 9-0 lead. The game changed in the top of the third, when OSU scored its three runs of the game off four hits and the two Cal errors of the game. Thanks to a two-RBI double from Ziegenhirt in the bottom of the fifth, Cal ended the game early with the 11-3 mercy win.

In the top of the first, there were no hits, no runs, and no Cal errors for the Beavers with Jolene Henderson issuing two strikeouts - one looking and one swinging.

Leading off for the Bears was junior first baseman Valerie Arioto, who walked but then got thrown out at first when senior second baseman Shannon Thomas grounded into a fielder's choice. Jace Williams, filling in as the designated player, had a stand-up double to the wall in left field, moving Thomas to third. Freshman catcher Lindsey Ziegenhirt put a hit on the ground down the right-field line for a two-RBI single, plating Thomas and Williams to give Cal an early 2-0 lead.

Echavarria then singled into left field for a one-out hit, advancing Ziegenhirt to second. Senior third baseman Vernae Sevilla singled into center to load the bases and prompt and OSU pitching change. Paige Hall moved from designated player to pitch, Audrey Roderfeld went to DP and Tarah Black went behind the dish to catch for Hall. It was in the next at bat that the game took a turn for the dramatic.

Taylor Kelly connected, hitting a grounder at Allison Kutz at first. Kutz threw home to Black, who could not catch the ball and lost the opportunity to tag out the advancing Ziegenhirt. Thanks to the E2, Ziegenhirt scored, Echavarria scored and Sevilla moved to third with Kelly reaching first on the fielder's choice.

An error at third allowed Shannon Houston to reach and advanced to third as well Kelly and Sevilla to score, bringing Cal's lead to 6-0. Elia Reid struck out and Arioto walked to give OSU two outs and Cal runners at the corners, respectively.

With a 3-2 count after eight pitches, Thomas singled to third baseman Cavestany, who made the dig and threw to first but Thomas was far too quick for her so she was aboard with a single and Houston came home to score. Williams grounded out to Kutz at first for the final out of the inning.

With Cal leading, 7-0, to start the second, Roderfeld singled into right. However, Henderson and the Cal defense got three quick outs with a fly and two ground outs.

To start the Bears' end of the second, Ziegenhirt doubled to left and Williams singled to center, putting runners on the corners with no outs. Sevilla connected for a shot on the ground directly at Allison Kutz at first, scoring Ziegenhirt. Luckily for Sevilla, Kutz completely missed it allowing Sevilla to reach and Echavarria to score, bringing Cal's tally to 9-0.

Kelly reached on a fielder's choice to third with Sevilla getting tagged out at second. Houston had a hard single up the middle, advancing Kelly to second with one out. Elia Reid flied out to Dani Chisholm in center and Arioto grounded into a fielder's choice with Cavestany making the unassisted play at third to get Kelly and end the inning. In all, Cal had three hits and the Beavers had one error for two Bear runs, bringing the score to 9-0.

Tarah Black led off and had a first-pitch single down the right-field line for a single to start the third. Chisholm singled with a hit back to Henderson, advancing Black to second. Black moved to third when Henderson's throw to first went awry, getting OSU into the game, 7-1.

Cavestany doubled to left, scored both Chisholm and Black. Lowe singled with a hit into left field. Elia Reid dropped the ball, allowed Lowe to advance to second and Cavestany to score. Henderson struck out Hall looking and got Roderfeld to line out to Houston in right, which advanced Lowe to third. Kutz walked but right fielder Ashley Sanchez grounded out to third for the final out of the inning with the score still in Cal's favor at 9-3.

The bottom of the third was the only inning in which the Bears were went three up, three down without a baserunner. Thomas grounded out to third and Williams flied out to left. Chisholm came in to make a great, arm-extended catch on a dropping fly from Ziegenhirt to end the inning.

Doremus singled through the 3-4 hole to lead off the top of the fourth with her team still down by six scores, 9-3. Black lined out to Thomas at second and Frani Echavarria drifted to her right to grab a fly from Chisholm. Doremus was left stranded after Cavestany flied out in foul territory to Elia Reid.

Echavarria led off the bottom of the fourth, singling into right-center field. She came right off the bases when Sevilla grounded to Cavestany at third, who threw to Doremus at second to get Echavarria. Doremus turned to Kutz at first to get Sevilla. Kelly flied out to center to send allow the Beavers to face the minimum amount of Bears at the plate.

To start the top of the fifth, Arioto came into the circle to pitch and Henderson made the move to first. Thomas did most of the work for the first two outs with a 4-3 grounder and avoiding the sun glare to grab a fly from Hall. Arioto got Roderfeld swinging to send the Beavers three up, three down.

Before the bottom of the fourth got underway, OSU made several defensive changes. Cavestany shifted to left, Alana Ford, one of OSU's five seniors, came in at third. Another Beaver senior, Kelly Dyer came in to pitch and promptly allowed a powerful single up the middle from Houston.

Elia Reid struck out swinging, but Arioto walked to put runners at first and second with one away from for Thomas. The 5-2 senior from Antioch, Calif., singled to short to juice the bases. Williams hit a ground at Kutz at first, and she threw it to Black at the plate, were Houston was out on the force.

With Cal leading, 9-3, Arioto at third, Thomas at second, and Kelly at first, Ziegenhirt stepped up to the plate. With a 2-1 count, the freshman catcher singled to left, easily plating Arioto and Thomas to end the game early on account of the mercy rule.

Cal will learn its fate for the 2010 NCAA postseason on Sunday evening. Check back with CalBears.com for all the details. You can get up-to-the-minute updates from the Cal Softball twitter account by pointing your browser to www.twitter.com/CalSoftball.