CATHEDRAL CITY, Calif. – The California softball team made it six straight wins after earning a pair of victories on the first day of action at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic on Friday.    

The Bears (11-2) run-ruled San Diego for the third time this season in the tournament opener, 10-1, and closed the day with a late-night triumph over Utah Valley, 6-5.

Game 1 – Cal 10, San Diego 1 (5)   
Facing San Diego for the third time early in the season, the Bears jumped out quickly in the first. Smith drew a leadoff walk and came around to score on a Tianna Bell two-out double down the right field line.

Anna Reimers had her pitches working in the circle as she was clean through two frames with Cal taking the 1-0 lead to the third. Makena Smith drove her fifth home run of the season to right center and the Bears used a two-out rally from there to break it open in the visitor's third. Bell recorded her second RBI hit of the day and Acacia Anders laced a 2-run triple to left center, making it 5-0.

Cal scored five more in the fourth, the big one coming on a Sophie Medellin 3-run blast to dead center after a Kennedy Thomas RBI single and Bell's third run-scoring knock of the afternoon. Reimers hadn't allowed a Torero hit heading to the home fifth, but a solo shot just inside the foul pole in left broke up the no-hitter chance on the way to a 10-1 victory and third run-rule victory over San Diego.   

Game 2 – Cal 6, Utah Valley 5
Utah Valley got on the board first with a 2-run home run off of Cal starter, Samantha Rocha, but the Bears pulled within one when Medellin hit her second shot of the day to left. Still trailing 2-1 in the fourth, Annabel Teperson came on in the circle and stranded a pair of Wolverines to end the frame.

D'Asha Saiki came through in the clutch in the home half, recording a 2-run single to give Cal its first lead of the night. After the Wolverines tied it in the fifth, Bell and Medellin hit back-to-back RBI doubles and a two-run Golden Bear lead heading to the sixth.

Haylei Archer entered the circle for Cal in the sixth after UVU put one on the board off a couple of Cal errors, but Saiki again made it a two-run game with her first home run of the season, off the glove of the Wolverine right fielder. Archer got out of a bases loaded jam with one out via a strikeout and groundout to earn her second save of the season in the seventh.

UP NEXT
Cal continues play at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic with a 10 a.m. first pitch against Cal Poly, followed by a 12:30 p.m. start vs. Iowa on Saturday, Feb. 25.  

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