SANTA BARBARA, Calif. -- Second-year freshman Sarah Starks launched a solo home run in the nightcap while junior second baseman Sommer Kisling collected two hits in the opener, but UC Davis came up on the losing end in both games of a Big West Conference softball doubleheader at UC Santa Barbara Friday afternoon. The Aggies lost Game 1 by a 2-1 final, then fell by the eight-run rule in the sixth, 11-3, during Game 2.

UC Davis slips to 15-21 overall and 9-8 in Big West action. UCSB improves to 10-29 for the year and 7-10 in conference games.

Kisling had two of the Aggies' three hits in the opener,  with freshman Libbie McMahan accounting for the other. McMahan led off the third with her lone hit, moved up to second on Kisling's safety to left, advanced to third on a force out, then scored as part of a double steal with senior shortstop Isabella Leon.

Meanwhile, UC Davis starter Taylor Fitzgerald allowed just two hits in the first four innings before a Sammy Fabian triple pushed across two Gaucho runs in the fifth. Fitzgerald went the distance in what was otherwise a quality start: six innings, four hits, two earned runs, two walks and a strikeout.

The Aggies also drew first blood in Game 2, taking advantage of a UCSB error to open the contest 2-0. However, the Gauchos erased that lead in the bottom half of the first, then continued to extend their lead to 3-2 in the third, 4-2 in the fourth and 7-2 through five. Starks launched a homer on a 2-1 pitch with two outs in the sixth, marking her ninth for the year and matching Meghan Bradbury for the most in the Aggies' Division I era.

UC Santa Barbara again had an answer, this time scoring four runs on five hits, with a two-run triple by first baseman Rayna Cohen serving as the walk-off hit. Starks went 2-for-3 in the nightcap with a pair of RBI. Senior center fielder Marissa Jauregui and true freshman catcher Anna Dethlefson each had hits for UC Davis.

The Aggies and Gauchos wrap up the weekend series with a noon game on Saturday.

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