Sophomore Jazzy Santos and senior Madelyn McNally each collected three hits to help power the UC Santa Barbara Softball team over Cal State Bakersfield on Sunday afternoon.
The Gauchos took the rubber match and won the series to improve to 13-20 overall and 7-5 in The Big West.
“We did a great job, I was really pleased with our performance today,” UCSB head coach Jo Evans. “We put pressure on them early and often and our bats came up big. We were able to chase their first pitcher in the first inning after Ainsley’s (Waddell) home run.
“Then they brought in the girl that beat us yesterday and we made her throw the ball up in the zone and today was a different story.”
The Gauchos were trailing 1-0 in the first inning when they first put runs on the board. UC Santa Barbara’s offense started clicking and put up five runs, including a three-run home run off the bat of Ainsley Waddell and a two-run single from freshman Emily Carr.
The Roadrunners failed to push any runs across before the Gauchos offense got back to their scoring ways the next inning.
Santa Barbara pushed across a run on senior Ashley Donaldson’s two-out RBI double, which brought the score to 6-1 in favor of the Gauchos.
Cal State Bakersfield narrowed the Gaucho lead to 6-2 before UC Santa Barbara stretched the advantage to 10-2 in the third inning.
The Gaucho bats heated up in the inning, scoring four runs, including a one-run groundout off the bat of Donaldson.
UC Santa Barbara held the Roadrunners without a run before their offense got back to their scoring ways the next inning.
The Gauchos scored once on an RBI single off the bat of Jazzy Santos, bringing the score to 11-2 in favor of Santa Barbara. The score remained 11-2 for the rest of the game, as the Gauchos coasted to the win.
Freshman Ainsley Waddell started in the circle and picked up the win for The Gauchos. The left-hander went five innings, giving up two earned runs, on seven hits, while striking out four.
In addition to her three hits, McNally had an RBI to lead the Gauchos. Santos added two RBI to her three-hit performance as well.
Waddell also contributed for UC Santa Barbara, putting together one hit in four trips to the plate while adding a home run and three RBI.
UC Santa Barbara will hit the road next weekend as they travel to Long Beach to take on Long Beach State on Friday, April 12 and Saturday, April 13.
The first pitch for Friday’s single game will be at 6 p.m. while Saturday’s doubleheader will begin at 1 p.m.