May 6, 2011
Final Stats
CORVALLIS, Ore. - For the No. 7/8 California softball team, 4 + 3 + 2 = victory. The Golden Bears kicked off the Pac-10 Conference series against Oregon State with a 9-0 win in six innings on Friday afternoon. Under dreary conditions at the Oregon State Softball Complex, the Golden Bears got four RBI from Lindsey Ziegenhirt and two RBI apiece from Jolene Henderson and Jace Williams to overpower the Beavers.
Thanks to the weekend-beginning win, Cal moves to 34-9 overall and 11-5 in the Pac-10 while OSU drops to 18-22 and 1-13 in the Pac-10.
Ziegenhirt paced the Bears with her four RBI off of just one hit. Williams had a team-high two hits.
"We came out a little slow," Williams said. "Their starting pitcher had a change-up that was keeping us pretty off balance. But in the third, we made the necessary adjustments and the plate and started hitting. We played some great defense and Jolene threw another gem!"
Henderson pitched the complete-game shutout, fanning seven Beavers and giving up just four hits and three walks.
Cal worked the OSU pitching arsenal for nine earned runs off an assortment of three hurlers. Tina Andreana started things off and lasted four innings, in which she allowed five earned runs off four hits and four walks. Paige Hall faced five batters, who combined for three hits and two runs. Marina Demore finished the game, allowing the final two scores.
Base hits from Elia Reid and Jamia Reid, along with a Britt Vonk walk, loaded the bases for Jace Williams, who singled to short to bring Elia Reid home. Lindsey Ziegenhirt reached on an RBI fielder's choice with Williams serving as the sacrificial lamb, but Jamia Reid and Britt Vonk scored. Thanks to a bases-loaded fly out to center from Henderson, Ziegenhirt came home to score Cal's final run of the third.
"We started a little slow but we turned it on by the third inning," Ziegenhirt said. "When we had baserunners, we did a good job of getting them in. We really had control of the long ball today."
When Ziegenhirt speaks of the long ball, her name is first on that list. In the top of the fifth, Jace Williams walked and scored when Lindsey Ziegenhirt connected for her seventh homer of the year. Frani Echavarria doubled to the gap in left center and came home on a ground out by Ashley Decker.
Williams sent Vonk, who had been hit in the back, home with a double to left center. The second sac fly of the game by Henderson scored Wallace.
"I just want to help my team scored, and that's what got it done," Henderson said of her sac flies that scored two teammates. "It's all about progress and each weekend being better than the last. The team played great defense behind me and kept us strong."
The series continues Saturday at 2 p.m. in Corvallis.
