LOS ANGELES – The Cal softball team scored 13 first-inning runs and put up 21 overall in two games on the way to sweeping Opening Day in victories over San Diego and Loyola Marymount at Smith Field on Friday.

The Bears (2-0) were powered by three hits from Makena Smith and two apiece from Elon Butler, Mika Lee and Kennedy Thomas. Smith went 3-for-6 with three RBI and three runs scored on the day.  

Game 1 – Cal 11, San Diego 0 (5)
The Bears jumped in front early thanks to hot bats during a two-out rally. With two down in the first, Tianna Bell crushed a 2-run home run to left in her first collegiate at-bat and that was followed by Butler, who also sent a 3-run laser shot over the wall in right in her first plate appearance as a Bear.

After a bunt single off the bat of Lee and a Thomas RBI single, Smith brought home two more on an RBI single and Bell drew a bases-loaded walk as it was 8-0 Bears after a 14-batter top of the first.   

Cal got the bats going again in the fifth, starting with a blast to left off the bat of Sona Halajian, making it 10-0. After Hope Alley recorded a pinch-hit single, D'Asha Saiki made it 11-0 on a pinch-hit RBI double.

Haylei Archer got the season-opening start in the circle and recorded a shutout while scattering four Torero hits.

Game 2 – Cal 10, Loyola Marymount 7
The Bears got it going early and often again in the first, running wild on the bases thanks to three Lion wild pitches and an error. Smith led off the game with a double and scored on the second straight wild pitch after moving to third on LMU starter Savannah Hooks' first wild one. Acacia Anders and Tatum Anzaldo both raced home on the third wild pitch and an error to make it 3-0 with nobody out.

Butler and Lee came through with back-to-back RBI singles following the wild start from LMU in the circle as Cal plated five in the first.

Halajian sailed through the first four innings in the circle with seven strikeouts until the home team finally got on the board in the fifth with a 2-run home run. The Bears, however, had an immediate answer in the top of the sixth to get the runs back.

Alley started things off with her second pinch-hit single of the day and moved to third on a Sophie Medellin pinch-hit double to left center. With runners at second and third and nobody down, Smith laid down a perfect sacrifice bunt to score Alley and Medellin raced home on yet another Lion wild pitch, making it 7-2. Kacey Zobac followed with a laser shot RBI single to right for a six-run Bear lead.

The Lions got three more in the home half, but a 2-run double off the bat of Anzaldo put the game away in the seventh.

UP NEXT
Cal travels to Fullerton for day two of the Easton Classic on Saturday, Feb. 11, beginning with a 12 noon first pitch against the host Titans and a 5 pm start vs. San Diego.  

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