Softball struggles in Santa Barbara
By Brian Betz
This past weekend's inaugural "Softball by the Beach" tournament was supposed to be an opportunity for the Santa Clara softball team to surprise some of the nation's best. But after the final out in their 2-0 loss against host UC Santa Barbara on Sunday, it was clear that this is one weekend the women need to put behind them.
The tournament started out to be a 10-team round robin affair, but turned to nine when the University of Oregon dropped out earlier in the week. The shutout to Santa Barbara was the fifth loss in a row for the women, who now stand at 7-11 on the season.
The tourney opener against No. 5 California started the five-game skid for Santa Clara when All-American Veronica Nelson tattooed freshman Jennifer Ponzo's pitch into the cheap seats, giving the Bears the early 1-0 lead. Santa Clara answered back in the bottom half of the inning when Kelley Johnson singled home junior Tracie Hall to even the score at 1-1.
The Bears' order started to heat up in the third however, plating four runs to regain the lead. Ponzo threw two wild pitches in the fourth, which brought home another run and the Bears cruised to the easy 7-2 win.
After losing to Iowa State 5-1 later that day, the team took the field on Saturday against BYU and Illinois. The Broncos continued to struggle at the plate, failing to score a run in either game. The Cougars of BYU pounded out 12 runs off Ponzo, who took the mound on just 24 hours of rest. The game was called in the fifth inning due to the eight-run rule. A late rally in the seventh against Illinois failed to produce a run as the Illini held on for the 4-0 win.
With the win, Illinois earned the right to play Cal in the championship game, where pitching sensation Cassie Bobrow threw a perfect game to secure the tournament title for the highly favored Bears.
Confident that they would leave the tourney with a win under their belt, the women faltered again on Sunday. Santa Barbara pitcher Loren Thornburg pitched a one-hit gem to preserve the 2-0 victory over Santa Clara, who now has some serious work in front of them before returning to action against No. 17 Fresno State on March 2.
"Looking back on our performance, the one thing that I notice is that we never got the big hit that we are accustomed to getting from one of our players," Head Coach Marcy Crouch said.