DAVIS, Calif. -- Freshman left fielder Leah Polson collected three hits on the day and pitcher Taylor Fitzgerald went the distance in a nine-inning opener, but UC Davis ultimately dropped both ends of Thursday's season-opening collegiate softball doubleheader against visiting California Baptist. The Aggies fell, 3-2, in nine innings for the first game, then dropped a 6-2 nightcap to beat out inclement weather falling upon La Rue Field.

UC Davis opens its 2021 season at 0-2. 

Polson and second baseman Sommer Kisling each finished 2-for-3 in the opener, with Polson's double accounting for the Aggies' lone extra-base hit. Fitzgerald allowed just five hits and walked none with only a single earned run against in nine frames. 

Both teams escaped first-inning jams then went scoreless through regulation. In the top of the eighth, with the UC Davis outfielders drawn in, Lancer center fielder Ashley McBay lifted a triple to left, easily past Polson, to score tiebreaker runner Mia Alvarez. McBay then scored on her own due to Abby Robertson's sacrifice bunt. 

However, the Aggies equalized in their half of the eighth: Katie Steffen-Brune and Sarah Starks delivered on back-to-back sacrifice flies to score Marissa Jauregui and Kisling. Unfortunately for UC Davis, CBU answered in the ninth with a Amanda Argomaniz sac fly to left, bringing in pinch runner Michaila Harrington. The Aggies went down in order in the eighth.

In the nightcap, the Lancers scored all six of their runs on two big hits. Amanda Argomaniz launched a three-run homer to left in the fifth inning, then third baseman Maile Olsen drilled a bases-clearing double down the left-field line in the seventh. UC Davis had cut into the lead prior to that hit: Polson plated Megan Bower on a single to put her team on the board. Then after Bella Pahulu's hit scored Starks, Polson was cut down at the plate on a relay from the shortstop Alvarez. 

Freshman Kenedi Brown took the loss in Game 2, with another freshman, Sarah Reineman, pitching the last two outs of the game in relief. Reineman was one of six Aggies to make collegiate debuts on Thursday, along with Pahulu, Anna Dethlefson, Libbie McMahan, Jessica Day and Sarah Nakahara. (Polson, Starks, Brown and Fitzgerald each played in 2020 but retained freshman status due to the NCAA's COVID rules.)

UC Davis returns to action with a doubleheader against Nevada on Friday. Game times are 11 a.m. and 1:30 p.m.
 

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ABOUT UC DAVIS:
With the addition of equestrian and women's beach volleyball in 2018, more than 700 student-athletes represent the fifth-ranked public school in the nation on one of 25 intercollegiate athletics teams.

UC Davis, a national leader in Title IX gender equity and leadership, is centrally located between San Francisco, Lake Tahoe, and the Napa Valley; and offers an unrivaled student-athlete experience that features the ideal combination of elite academics, Division I athletics and personal growth.

Ranked annually in the top 10 in diversity and students' social mobility, UC Davis is uncommonly committed to preparing student-athletes for life after graduation with Aggie EVO — an innovative student-athlete outcomes program that helps young women and men develop passions, gain real-world experience, and enjoy a successful launch to full-time employment or graduate school. Through Aggie EVO, Intercollegiate Athletics provides unmatched resources and a vast network of working professionals to ensure post-graduation success for its student-athletes.