In its final game at the Silicon Valley Classic II tournament, the UC Santa Barbara softball team (12-15) came back from a 3-1 deficit with a three-run sixth inning to defeat Santa Clara, 4-3, on Sunday morning at SCU Softball Field.
After rain delayed the start of the action, the game finally got under way at 11:00 a.m., two hours after the scheduled start time.
Santa Clara’s Taylor Burns scored the opening run of the game on a sac fly to center field that scored Eleni Spirakis.
Three innings later, sophomore centerfielder Tyler Goldstein tied things up for UCSB on a sac fly of her own, scoring senior first baseman Devan Sperry.
In the bottom half of the fourth inning, the hosts went ahead once again thanks to a pair of RBI singles from Kenzie Yamakoshi and Spirakis, putting the Broncos up 3-1.
The Gauchos managed to rally back in the sixth.
First, freshman second baseman Nayah Pola singled in sophomore catcher Teah Thies to cut the lead to 3-2.
Another freshman, Hannah Damore, brought in what would be the eventual game-winning runs on a two-run single, with both freshman Sam Denehy and junior shortstop Maci Fines crossing the plate to give UCSB the 4-3 win.
The victory completed a 3-2 weekend at the Silicon Valley Classic II tournament for UCSB.
The Gauchos return home for a midweek matchup with Notre Dame on Tuesday afternoon. First pitch is scheduled for 1 p.m. at Campus Diamond.