RIVERSIDE, Calif. — For the first time in four seasons, the UC Davis softball team has swept a Big West Conference opponent, following up a 3-1 win in the series opener on Friday with a pair of high-scoring wins on Saturday, taking a pair from host UC Riverside by the scores of 9-5 and 11-1 in five innings on Saturday afternoon at Amy S. Harrison Field.
The wins push the Aggies' record to 34-8 overall and 9-3 in Big West play, taking all three games from a league rival for the first time since doing so at UC Santa Barbara on April 18-19 in 2015. Saturday completed only the seventh Big West series sweep for UC Davis in the program's history, and its first against the Highlanders since May 1-2 in 2010.
Riverside fell to 23-19 overall and 5-7 in conference play with the two losses.
Offensively, the Aggies collected a combined 20 hits on the day, logging double digits for the third and fourth times in their last five games and the 12th and 13th times this year.
Senior
Meghan Bradbury and junior
Isabella Leon took down a pair of school Division I single-season records in the process, the former collecting six RBI on the day to give her 38 for the year and break Deanna Menapace's mark of 33 in 2008, while the latter scored four times to give her 37 runs scored on the season, besting besting Julie Stauder's single-season Division I mark of 35 runs scored in 2008.
Bradbury's total is the most by an Aggie hitter since Susan Churchwell (53), Lindsay Moore (50), and Megan Turman (45), all topped the mark during the national championship season in 2003, while Leon's total is the highest since Moore (46) led three other teammates with at least that many runs scored that same season.
Having won its last five straight games, UC Davis will now have to run a gauntlet in its quest for the Big West title, facing the two teams (Cal State Fullerton and Long Beach State) picked ahead of it in the preseason coaches poll along with the No. 4 pick (Hawai'i), which entered Saturday tied for the league lead.
Following a mid-week clash with Pacific on Tuesday (April 23), the road begins against three-time defending conference champion Cal State Fullerton on Saturday (April 27) with a doubleheader at 1 p.m., followed by "Senior Day" Sunday (April 28) at Noon.
GAME 1: UC DAVIS 9, UC RIVERSIDE 5
The Aggies jumped out early, staved off a Highlander lead, then came up clutch late to pull away, staking claim to their fourth consecutive Big West series victory with a 9-5 win in the opener on Saturday.
Alyse Rojas,
Riley Siegel, and
Meghan Bradbury, each finished with two hits on the day to lead a 10-hit UC Davis attack — the latter dealing the big blow as part of a four-run fourth inning with a bases-clearing three-run double that lifted her past Deanna Menapace for the program's Division I single-season RBI record, ending the game with 35 for the season.
Nadia Witt's first home run of the season staked UC Riverside to the early lead in the second before the UC Davis offense rallied back with four in its half of the third. Siegel, who finished 2-for-2 with a pair of runs scored, doubled to lead off the inning, was sacrificed to third, and scored two batters later on
Marisa Given's bases-loaded sacrifice fly.
With both base runners moving up, Leon walked following a marathon 12-pitch at bat to re-load the bases for Bradbury, who promptly emptied them on the second pitch she saw for a 4-1 advantage.
Siegel's second home run of the season in the fourth, and a pinch-hit RBI single by
Frankie Mendoza in the fifth, inched the Aggies further away before the Highlanders reeled them back in, sending eight hitters to the plate and scoring four times in the bottom of the fifth to make it a one-run game.
Leon scored on a double-steal attempt in the sixth to get one of the runs back, but UC Davis had to turn away another rally in the home half after back-to-back singles against reliever
Sara Cadona forced ace
Brooke Yanez into the circle. The sophomore then shut the Highlanders down, striking out the side around a one-out single that loaded the bases to end the threat.
UC Davis tacked on two more in the seventh on a squeeze by
Marissa Jauregui and an RBI double by
Alyse Rojas to cap the scoring as Yanez nailed down her first save of the season with a trio of ground balls to end the game.
Junior right-hander
Katie Kibby (10-5) was credited with the win, charged with four runs on four hits over four innings, while Cadona allowed a run on three hits in her one inning of work. Yanez allowed a single hit while facing seven batters, striking out three to push her season total to 214 following the game — solidifying her hold on third place on the school's single-season Division I list, passing Alex Holmes (209 in 2011).
UC Davis 9, UC Riverside 5 (Apr 20, 2019 at Riverside, CA) (Game 1)
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UC Davis............ 004 111 2 - 9 10 1 (33-8, 8-3 Big West)
UC Riverside........ 010 040 0 - 5 8 0 (23-18, 5-6 Big West)
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Pitchers: UC Davis - Kibby, Katie; Cadona, Sara (5); Yanez, Brooke (6) and Siegel, Riley. UC Riverside - Boles, Jacy; Marschall, Haley(6); Faulkner, Rebecca(6) and Curtan, Kayla.
Win - Kibby, Katie (10-5) Save - Yanez, Brooke (1) Loss - Boles, Jacy (10-6) T - 2:34 A - 212
HR UCD - Siegel, Riley (2).
HR UCR - Witt, Nadia (1).
Weather: Clear, 60s
H. Marschall faced 2 batters in the 4th.
Kibby, K. faced 3 batters in the 5th.
Cadona, S. faced 2 batters in the 6th.
GAME 2: UC DAVIS 11, UC RIVERSIDE 1 (5 inn.)
The top five hitters in the Aggies' order combined to drive in 10 of the team's 11 runs on the day as UC Davis used a pair of big innings en route to an 11-1 victory in five innings and complete the sweep of both Saturday's doubleheader and the weekend series.
Alyse Rojas finished 3-for-4 with a pair of runs and two RBI — one of four Aggies with multi-RBI games on the day. Reigning Big West player of the week
Marisa Given finished 2-for-4 with two runs and two RBI,
Marissa Jauregui finished with a double and two runs driven in, and Megan Bradbury followed up her three-RBI performance in game one with three more in game two.
After nailing down the save in game one,
Brooke Yanez (22-3) earned her second win of the weekend in the nightcap, allowing a single run on six hits and striking out four in five innings. The strikeout total gives her 218 on the season, moving her to within eight of Amy Rosson's 2004 total for fifth on the all-time single-season list, and seven shy of Jessica Hancock (225 in 2008) for second on the school's single-season Division I chart.
UC Davis got the scoring started by sending nine batters to the plate as part of a five run second inning as the first of three UCR errors kept the inning alive so that the Aggies could do their damage.
Alyse Rojas laced a single to left to plate the first run of the game and was quickly followed by Jauregui (two-run double), Given (RBI double) and, after a pitching change, Leon (RBI double) for a 5-0 lead.
The runs didn't stop there as UC Davis pushed across six more runs in the third, sending 11 hitters to the plate in the process. Bradbury had the big blow in the inning with a bases-clearing double, with three other players also drove in runs as the Aggies opened the floodgates.
UC Davis 11, UC Riverside 1 (Apr 20, 2019 at Riverside, CA) (Game 2)
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UC Davis............ 056 00 - 11 10 0 (34-9, 9-3 Big West)
UC Riverside........ 000 10 - 1 6 3 (23-19, 5-7 Big West)
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Pitchers: UC Davis - Yanez, Brooke and Lee, Kiana; Siegel, Riley; Villalobos, Alexis. UC Riverside - Olmos, Melanie; Boles, Jacy(4); Faulkner, Rebecca(5) and Curtan, Kayla; Heineman, Bayleigh; Smith, Kristin.
Win - Yanez, Brooke (22-3) Loss - Olmos, Melanie (5-9) T-1:45 A-224
Weather: Clear, High 60s
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