LAS VEGAS – The California softball team scored six runs in the final three innings to rally for a 7-5 victory and sweep the three-game set with UNLV on Sunday at Eller Media Stadium.
Five bunt singles, including two that scored runs off the bat of
Hope Alley and a clutch
Kennedy Thomas two-run double in the seventh propelled the Golden Bears (28-12-1). The Rebels fell to 19-23 with their sixth straight defeat.
Cal took the early lead for the third time in as many games with a
Kacey Zobac solo home run in the second inning. UNLV answered in the home half, tying the score at 1-1 on a pair of hits against starter
Annabel Teperson.
After the Bears left the bases full in the third, UNLV took its first lead of the series in the bottom of the frame. The Rebels scored four runs on three hits and an error off of Teperson, forcing Cal to go to the bullpen for
Haylei Archer, who was able to get out of the jam by stranding three runners and limit the UNLV damage to keep Cal in the game.
Trailing 5-1 heading to the fifth, Cal started to chip away and made it a three-run deficit on an
Acacia Anders RBI groundout. Still chasing three in the sixth, the Bears made it 5-3, UNLV, on a pinch-hit RBI bunt single from Alley and cut it to a one-run game heading to the Rebel sixth after
Tatum Anzaldo drew a bases-loaded RBI walk.
Makena Smith led off the seventh with a double and Cal had runners at second and third with nobody out when
Elon Butler laid down a bunt single and advanced with nobody covering at second base. Zobac walked to load the bases and Thomas came through with the big two-run double to give Cal the lead back at 6-5 before Alley's second straight RBI bunt single made it 7-5.
Archer worked around a leadoff walk in the Rebel seventh to end the game with a pair of strikeouts and a popup.
UP NEXT
Cal returns to Levine-Fricke Field for a midweek game on Wednesday with a 2 p.m. first pitch vs. Santa Clara.
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