March 16, 2013

Box Score

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. - Competing in its final non-conference road games of the season, UC Davis traveled to the Roadrunner Softball Complex and began the day by defeating the CSU Bakersfield Roadrunners 3-2 in eight innings, and followed that effort with a 2-0 win the following game to sweep Saturday's doubleheader.

With the results, the Aggies have now won four of their last five games and improve their record to 13-13 while the 'Runners fall to 2-15.

UC Davis opened the day's action by taking a 1-0 lead when Jasmine Lee scored on a Roadrunner fielding error during its inaugural set of at-bats. Initially reaching on a single to the second baseman, Lee advanced to third when Kelly Schulze's single squirted past CSUB's first and second basemen into right field.

CSU Bakersfield tied the game at one apiece after its half of the third, followed by four straight scoreless innings thrown by UC Davis starter Justine Vela and CSUB's Kelsie Monroe to force additional innings.

Using international tiebreaker rules, Krista Bava was placed on second for just a brief period of time because Megan Guzman snapped the tie moments later with her leadoff triple that bounced down the right field line.

Guzman scored the final Aggie run when Lee, the very next batter, singled to centerfield to give her team a two-run lead.

Lee recorded three of her team's six hits in the first game.

Returning to her hometown, Vela (a Stockdale High School alum) took care of the rest for UC Davis by forcing Bakersfield batters to ground out, fly out, and pop up in its half of the eighth to help her team capture the win.

In addition to earning her team-high eighth victory, Vela turned in another impressive performance by allowing only two hits, two walks and fanning 12 batters.

Earning the start for UC Davis in Gm. 2 was Leah Munden, another Bakersfield native and graduate of nearby Centennial High.

As was the case in the previous game, the Aggies were the first to score; unlike Gm. 1 when UC Davis scored in the first inning, the team scored its inaugural run of Gm. 2 in the fifth.

Earning the second of her two hits in the top of the fifth inning, Chandler Wagner started the first Aggie scoring rally by reaching first on a leadoff bunt. Advancing to second when Cassandra Ginnis joined her on-base via a fielder's choice, the pair advanced another 60 feet on a double steal, a situation that was handled poorly by Bakersfield.

On that play, an error by CSUB's left fielder enabled Wagner to score the first UC Davis run, one that eventually became the game-winner as the action unfolded throughout the final two innings.

A one-run lead was all that Munden needed to complete UC Davis' sweep over CSU Bakersfield as she allowed only two more hits throughout the bottom-half of the fifth, sixth and seventh innings to earn her fourth victory of the year.

Against zero walks, Munden struckout four 'Runners and needed to throw only 80 pitches to post her first complete-game shutout of the season.

Another long ball by Amy Nunez in the top of the sixth doubled UC Davis' lead to 2-0, providing another insurance run for Munden to work with throughout her final two innings in the circle.

Nunez has hit a home run in three of the Aggies' last six games, and is singlehandedly responsible for all but one of the four blasts hit by UC Davis bats this year.

Guzman and Wagner each finished Gm. 2 with two hits; Christa Castello, Kayla Tyler, Nunez and JJ Wagoner collectively posted the other four UC Davis hits.