BATON ROUGE, La. – The California softball team split a doubleheader at the NCAA Baton Rouge Regional as its postseason run came to an end with a 3-2 loss to Southern Illinois on Saturday night at Tiger Park.
Acacia Anders recorded four hits in the two games and
Elon Butler hit Cal's 79th home run of the season in the first game of the day, a 15-0, run-rule victory over Jackson State.
Game 1: Cal 15, Jackson State 0 (5)
The Bears jumped on the Tigers early and often, making it 2-0 after the top of the first on back-to-back doubles from Anders and Butler. Anders put her name into the Cal record book, setting the program single-season record with her 19th two-bagger of the year.
Cal blew it open in the second inning by scoring seven runs on six hits and an error, the big one a grand slam off the bat of Butler, her team-leading 17th of the year. The Bears added two runs in the third and four in the fourth, tallying a season best 16 hits.
Ryann Orange earned the win after allowing just one hit in three innings with five strikeouts.
Game 2: Southern Illinois 3, Cal 2
Cal kept its offensive momentum going in the first inning, scoring two runs on a
Tianna Bell RBI groundout and an Anders RBI single. Facing a pitching staff with one of the top team earned run averages in the country, Madi Eberle was able to settle in from there.
The Bears were only able to manage three singles throughout the rest of the game and Southern Illinois scored two unearned runs as four defensive errors were too much for a strong outing from
Randi Roelling to overcome.
The freshman from Modesto allowed just one earned run on three hits with four strikeouts in six innings pitched to take the tough-luck defeat.
STAY POSTED
For coverage of Cal softball, please follow the Bears on Twitter (
@CalSB), Instagram (
@calsb) and Facebook (/
CalSoftball/).