CLEARWATER, Fla. – The luck of the Irish was with the Golden Bears as they pulled out a magical comeback victory behind a four-run stunner in the bottom of the seventh to force the first tiebreaker at the St. Pete/Clearwater Elite Invitational on Saturday night against No. 24 Notre Dame.
 
After Zoe Conley (2-3) fanned three batters in the top of the tiebreaker, freshman Amani Bradley gave the go-ahead on an RBI single to bring in Sabrina Nunez for the 7-6 win over the Fighting Irish and overcome a 6-2 deficit.
 
Things looked bleak for the Bears after letting go of an early two-run lead in the bottom of the first inning. The Irish tied things with two scores in the next at-bat and then tacked on four runs, keeping Cal (5-4) scoreless by the end of the fifth.
 
Masterful pitching from Conley, who took over for Kamalani Dung after 3.0 innings, allowed for just one run in 5.0 innings and kept ND scoreless through its final three at-bats to give Cal's offense the jolt it needed to extend play.
 
In the bottom of the seventh, the Bears unraveled the Irish's pitcher, who committed two untimely errors that turned into runs for the Bears. Nunez led off, reaching on a throwing error and advanced to second on a single from Rood, who tied for a game-high three hits.
Nunez then made it across the plate on an errant throw on a routine fielder's choice that allowed Bradley to reach second and Rood to advance to third.
 
Next, Mikayla Coelho drew a walk to load the bases, followed by Rood coming home on a wild pitch. Another wild pitch brought Bradley in and advanced Coelho to third with Cal down 6-5, with one out on the board.
 
Senior outfielder Krysten McCue stepped in to pinch run for Coelho and sophomore Lauren Espalin blasted an RBI single to left field for the tying run.
 
The win marks the ninth-ever in the 10-game series with ND. Cal has won four of its last five against the Fighting Irish with two of those outings being determined by one run.
 
Ninemire's Notes
"Tonight proved the character of the team" said head coach Diane Ninemire. "No matter the odds that were against them in the game today, they pulled together. We got clutch performances tonight from starters and nonstarters like Cam's (Cameron Kondo) key bunt to advance our runner and Bradley with the big hit. Zoe came in and pitched a great game and we made it through together."
 
The Bears conclude their 10-day road trip with a 7 a.m. (PT) contest with Minnesota. The game will be streamed on ESPN 3.