Box Score March 15, 2009
Final Stats
SAN JOSE, Calif. - UC Davis erased a two-run deficit but ultimately fell to UNLV, 5-3, Sunday in the final game of the National Invitational Softball Tournament in San Jose. The contest was a battle between the only remaining undefeated teams in the tournament. The loss drops UC Davis to 14-12 on the year and snaps a four-game winning streak.
Seven Aggies had at least one hit in an attack that featured nine hits overall. Michelle Espiritu and Rachel Miller each collected two hits, and Belinda Paine extended her hitting streak to six games with a 1-for-2 effort. Erin Emde and Miller each drove in a run.
Miller continued to wield a hot bat with an RBI-double in the second to put UC Davis up 1-0. The freshman finished the five-game tournament with two homers, a double, a triple and seven RBIs.
UNLV (21-8) tied the game with a run in the third and scored two more times in the fourth to take a 3-1 lead. The Aggies responded in the top of the fifth with the tying runs. Emde delivered a one-out single to drive in Paine to cut the lead to 3-2. Espiritu would later score on a wild pitch, and the Aggies had tied the game at 3-3.
The momentum shifted once again to the Rebels in the bottom of the fifth as they scored the deciding runs to take a 5-3 lead.
Jessica Hancock (9-6) suffered the loss. She allowed five runs on five hits in 4.2 innings of work. Two of the five runs were unearned. She also struck out two and walked three.
UC Davis is next in action March 23 when it begins a three-game road trip at Cal State Bakersfield. The trip concludes the following day with a doubleheader at No. 24 Fresno State.
