MORAGA, Calif. - After Saint Mary's clawed back to take a late lead over the California softball team, the Golden Bears responded with two runs in the top of the seventh and defeated the Gaels, 5-4, Wednesday afternoon from Cottrell Field in Moraga. 

A two-out single by the Gaels in the bottom of the sixth had the home fans cheering as SMC came back from an early 3-0 Cal lead to take a 4-3 lead. But the Bears answered in the top of the seventh. A bases-loaded single by D'Asha Saiki sent home Kennedy Thomas and Kacey Zobac to give Cal its lead back at 5-4. It completed a three-hit day for Cal's true freshman. 

"I was really proud of the effort," head coach Diane Ninemire said. "I could tell that they were focused going into that inning. They believed that they could come up with a key hit and we got the first-and-third and then Lo (Lauren Espalin) laid down that terrific bunt to load the bases. D'Asha got the big hit for us. I was hoping we would have scored more runs in the inning, but Chloe went back out and did a great job."

Cal (7-4) scored all of its runs prior to the seventh in the first inning with a two-out rally. All the Bears reached base after there were two outs in the inning. Saiki earned her first RBI of the day, knocking in the first run of the game with a bases-loaded single. Mikayla Coelho made it a big inning with a two-run double that sent home Zobac and Lauren Espalin, making it 3-0, Bears. The RBI double was the first of two hits on the day for Coelho. Zobac and Espalin also enjoyed two hits on Wednesday. 

Zobac's first inning single increased her hitting streak to eight games. She's hit safely in every game she's started this season. In the third, Makena Smith picked up a single to increase her hitting streak to six games. 

Saint Mary's got on the board in the bottom of the third after a couple Cal errors allowed the run to come across the plate. Later, in the bottom of the fifth, a deep fly that bounced off the wall resulted in an inside-the-park home run for Saint Mary's, cutting Cal's lead down to 3-2. 

Cal flies to Palm Springs tomorrow for the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic from Feb. 21-23 in Cathedral City, Calif. The Bears will face Auburn, No. 18 Missouri, Nebraska and New Mexico in the tournament.