DAVIS, Calif. -- Second-year freshman Leah Polson laced a fly ball over the head of left fielder Keila Bosinger, driving home senior Marissa Jauregui for a walk-off double in the ninth inning of UC Davis' 5-4 nightcap victory against UC San Diego, capping a Big West Conference doubleheader at La Rue Field Saturday afternoon. The Aggies lost the opener by a 5-1 final, but responded with two-run homers by Sarah Starks and Bella Pahulu in Game 2.
UC Davis moves to 15-19 overall and 9-6 in conference play. UCSD slips to 9-17 for the season with a 5-10 mark in Big West contests.
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Right-hander Kenedi Brown went the distance in extra innings for a complete-game win, bringing her season ledger to 9-9. She allowed just five hits and struck out seven Tritons in nine innings.
All nine UC Davis starters collected hits in the Game 2 victory. Polson's game-winning double was her second hit, while Starks' two-run blast in the third was her first of two. Pahulu delivered a two-run homer to left-center field in the sixth, bringing in Polson and fully erasing what had been a 4-0 UCSD lead through the first three innings.
The center fielder Jauregui, catcher Anna Dethlefson, second baseman Sommer Kisling, shortstop Isabella Leon, third baseman Libbie McMahan and right fielder Sarah Nakahara each had one hit in support of Brown's pitching in Saturday's nightcap.
Brown allowed an unearned run in the first inning, then suffered some hard luck in the third: on a double steal with runners at the corners, Bosinger attempted a hook slide around Dethlefson at the plate. After some deliberation among the umpire crew, the UCSD left fielder was ruled safe. Triton second baseman Isabela Lavrov then launched a two-run homer to left to score Sherriah Harrington and increase her team's lead to 4-0.
Starks halved that margin with her shot in the third, Pahulu erased the deficit in the sixth, while Brown allowed no hits from the fifth inning on, setting the stage for the game-winning rally in the ninth.
In contrast, UC Davis had only five hits in the first game, including two by Kisling. The Aggies drew first blood when Leon's hit to left moved up Dethlefson, who reached on a hit-by-pitch then stole second. Leon advanced to second on a failed double steal, then came home on a Starks hit to left center.
However, the Tritons placed three hits down the two foul lines in pushing across four runs in the fourth, while starter Kaia Simpson held the UC Davis batters in check after that first-inning score.
The Aggies continue Big West Conference action at UC Santa Barbara, starting with a 1 p.m. doubleheader on Friday.
ABOUT UC DAVIS:
Centrally located between San Francisco and Lake Tahoe, over 700 student-athletes across 25 teams enjoy an unrivaled undergraduate experience at the fifth-ranked public school in the country.
Ranked annually in the nation's top 10 in diversity and students' social mobility, UC Davis and its innovative Aggie EVO system helps student-athletes develop passions, connect with a comprehensive network of alums and industry leaders, gain real-world experience and thrive as a young professional following a successful launch to full-time employment or graduate school.
