NORTHRIDGE, Calif. -- Second-year freshman pitchers Kenedi Brown and Taylor Fitzgerald each posted complete-game victories while the top of the Aggie order hit a combined 12-for-22, leading UC Davis to wins of 4-2 in eight innings and 3-1 during a Big West Conference softball doubleheader at Matador Diamond Friday afternoon.
Winners of six straight games dating back to March 28, the Aggies improve to 12-18 overall and 6-5 in conference play. The Matadors slip to 2-12 for the year, all of which are Big West games.
True freshman Anna Dethlefson hit a combined 3-for-7 with a triple, four runs scores and two stolen bases as UC Davis' leadoff hitter, playing both catcher and right field. Second baseman Sommer Kisling hit 5-for-8 in the No. 2 spot, while shortstop Isabella Leon finished 4-for-7 with two doubles, a home run, and four RBI in Friday's twinbill.Â
Brown went the distance in the eight-inning opener, allowing six hits and two earned runs while striking out eight against two walks. She surrendered a two-run homer by CSUN's center fielder Jaymi Stewart in the first frame, but settled down to retire nine straight into the fourth.Â
Brown also got in a jam in the sixth when an Alexis Lemus double began a brief rally. Steward singled through the middle and Kenedee Jamerson was hit by a 1-2 pitch to load the bases. However, the reigning Big West Pitcher of the Week got Matador catcher Tatum Wentworth to bounce sharply to third base. Freshman Libbie McMahan quickly threw home to Dethlefson to force Lemus at the plate, then Dethlefson fired to first to complete a 5-2-3 double play.
Leon's two-run blast sealed the Game 1 victory in the eighth inning, after Sarah Starks' solo homer in the fifth and Dethlefson's triple in the sixth helped the Aggies erase the early 2-0 deficit. Leon also provided the game-winning hit in the nightcap, as her double to the left-center gap brought in Dethlefson and Kisling, who preceded with back-to-back singles.
Fitzgerald followed suit with a quality start in Game 2, surrendering six hits and one run with two walks and a career-high five strikeouts. CSUN managed runners in scoring position in each of the first four innings, but only pushed across a run in the third, when Lemus doubled home Journey Rojas for the equalizer. Leon's two-run double in the fifth put UC Davis back on top, while Fitzgerald only allowed one baserunner – on a hit-by-pitch – during the CSUN fifth and sixth innings.
The Matadors threatened to force another extra-inning game in the seventh. Left fielder Savannah Favre sent a 2-2 pitch down the line for a leadoff double. Fitzgerald got Rojas and Lemus to ground out to the left side of the infield, holding Favre at the keystone. Steward was hit by a 3-1 pitch and Jamerson reached on an error to load the bases, representing the potential game-winner. But CSUN first baseman Paloma Usquiano bounced the first pitch to McMahan for the final out.
UC Davis and CSUN conclude the weekend series with a single game on Saturday. First pitch is scheduled for noon, with live video available at Big West TV (https://bigwest.org/watch/default.aspx?Live=3209&path=csun).
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