Broncos Can't Hold Off Gaels
By Ryan Marshall
The Santa Clara softball team squared off against rival Saint Mary's College four times this past weekend in back-to-back double-headers on Saturday and Sunday. After the Broncos took the first game on Friday, the team could not muster any momentum and wound up losing the final three games of the series.
The Broncos (9-40) drew first blood in the series with Saint Mary's, taking the opening game by a score of 3-2. Junior pitcher Carissa Theis pitched a complete game, allowing one earned run and just four hits.
A sacrifice fly in the fifth inning gave the Gaels their second run and a 2-1 lead heading into the sixth inning. In the bottom of the sixth, Santa Clara was saved by sophomore Kelly Scribner's two-run home run, which ended up sealing the victory.
The Broncos dropped the second game of the afternoon, 6-3, due to some calls that did not go their way.
"We had an umpire that called (eight) illegal pitches on our pitcher (Jessica Turner) which resulted in eight walks," said fourth-year Head Coach Lisa Mize. "Of the runs scored off of those walks there were probably at least four."
The Gaels were awarded four quick runs without much effort and Santa Clara never fully recovered, resulting in a split for Saturday's games.
"That was really unfortunate because (Turner) pitched a two-hitter besides that," said Mize. "Ironically, the next day when she pitched she got zero (such) calls so it just goes to show the inconsistency of that rule."
Santa Clara came out firing in Sunday's first game, hoping to take back the edge they had achieved after Saturday's first game. Six Broncos crossed the plate in the first inning, but none would follow for the rest of the game as Santa Clara's pitching could not hold the lead. The Broncos went on to lose 13-6 after the Gaels put together back-to-back five-run innings in the fourth and fifth.
"Getting that six-run lead was great," said Mize. "We just need to learn how to shut the door on an opponent, and that's something we've struggled with all year. We're new, we're young, so we're working through all of that stuff and hopefully we've learned that it's something we have to fix. We could have easily put that team away if we continued to hit but our bats went quiet."
With one game remaining for the Broncos to win in order to split the series, Sunday's afternoon contest was crucial. However, the Gaels' starting pitcher Jessica Lemmon had other plans as she threw a complete-game shutout, allowing just four hits while striking out five.
Despite dropping the series, several individuals shined this weekend for Santa Clara. Scribner went six for 12 overall, homered twice and knocked in four runs. Sophomore Stephanie Fisher went five for 11 on the weekend, and 25 of the 26 innings were pitched by either Carissa Theis or sophomore Jessica Turner.
A pair of senior Broncos, Briana Knight and Kristin Welsh, will be honored this coming weekend as Santa Clara hosts Cal State Bakersfield for double-headers on Saturday and Sunday.
Knight, a three-time All-PCSC honoree, leads the team in home runs (8), runs batted in (29) and total bases (67) this season. Welsh led the Broncos in hitting in 2010 with a batting average of .322, but she has battled injuries throughout her career. She has bounced back nicely, starting in 41 of the team's 49 games this season.
"They're definitely going to be missed," said Mize. "They're both real positive kids and that's been a great thing for me to be able to coach them and for this program."
Contact Ryan Marshall at rmarshall@scu.edu or (408) 554-4852.