BERKELEY – California will continue its in-state tour this weekend with a short trip to Santa Barbara.
 
The Golden Bears (9-7) face the Gauchos twice and also see Bowling Green and LIU Brooklyn over the two-day tournament.
 
In a pair of doubleheader days, Cal opens against the Falcons on Friday at 11 a.m. (PT) before seeing the host team at 3:30 p.m. Saturday starts with the Bears versus the Blackbirds at 11 a.m. before closing against the Gauchos at 1:30 p.m.
 
Cal returns to action on a two-game win streak after concluding a five-game slate at the Mary Nutter Classic 3-2 with Sunday victories over Long Beach State (12-9) and Fullerton (2-1).
 
The Bears who have bested opponents with a dual threat offense and strong pitching, came out of a dramatic weekend, where they went to extended play twice, and still managed to put up some notable numbers.
 
Senior ace Kamalani Dung finished the weekend with three wins in the circle after holding Duke to two hits, in a 1-0 shutout. She also came in as relief in Cal's tumultuous 12-9 tiebreaker win against Long Beach State, bringing the Bears from behind in the outing.
 
Lindsay Rood (.439), also a senior, co-led the tournament with nine hits and started the new week atop of the Pac-12 charts with 12 stolen bases.
 
Clutch hitting from sophomores Mikayla Coelho, who leads the Bears with 13 RBI, and clean-up hitter Lauren Espalin, who has a team-high five doubles, have also been key for Cal in closely-contested situations.
 
"We're looking forward to good competition this weekend and after a strong finish Sunday hope to carry that into play this week," said head coach Diane Ninemire. "We're hoping for strong pitching and defense, but will also need some timely hits. Hopefully we can also avoid the rain."
  
vs. Bowling Green

• Friday marks the first meeting between the Bears and Falcons since 1999, when Cal won 9-1
• The Falcons are 4-4 on the season. After dropping three games at the weather-altered Upstate Classic in Spartanburg, S.C., to begin the season, BGSU went 4-1 at the GWU Tournament in Boiling Springs, N.C., last weekend
• Head coach Sarah Willis is in her fourth season at the helm of the Falcons. She and her staff welcomed back 14 letterwinners, including six positional starters, from a year ago. Those six players include four – sophomore infielders Sammy Dees and Sarah Gonzalez and senior outfielders Kali Holcomb and Alex Sorgi – who started all 52 of the team's games in 2018

vs. UCSB

• The Bears run-ruled the Gauchos in five innings last time out. Cal posted a 12-2 decision on March 9, 2018 and holds a 24-5 all-time record
• Currently 4-9, UCSB fell short its last four games at the Mary Nutter Classic facing three top-25 teams including Pac-12 notables Arizona and Oregon
• Sophomore Sammy Fabian leads the team with .391 batting average, 18 hits, including three doubles, and eight runs

vs. LIU Brooklyn

• The Blackbirds are currently 8-6 after a 4-0 weekend in Jacksonville where they gave up just one run and posted three shutouts and one run-rule
• LIU's offense is spurred by Alina Castillo's .342 batting average, 13 hits and nine runs to collectively edge opponents 90-88 at the plate
• Roy Kortmann begins his 24th season as head softball coach at LIU Brooklyn in 2018-19, and is in the midst of his third decade as the director of one of the top programs in the Northeast region. During that span, Kortmann has built a perennial softball powerhouse in downtown Brooklyn by earning ten Northeast Conference championships

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