· UC Santa Barbara box score
· Santa Clara box score
SANTA BARBARA, Calif. — The UTSA softball team dropped a pair of games on day two of the UCSB Mini-Tournament, falling 9-1 to UC Santa Barbara and 3-0 to Santa Clara on Saturday at Campus Diamond.
UC Santa Barbara scored six runs in the final two innings in a 9-1 victory to avenge a 4-1 loss to the Roadrunners on Friday. Tiffany Wright had two home runs and three runs batted in to lead the Gauchos at the plate, while Melinda Matsumoto (4-0) came on in relief in the first inning and earned the win in the circle, allowing three hits in four and two-thirds scoreless innings.
Redshirt freshman Kelly Cato was 2-for-2 with the bat to lead UTSA, while seniors Jessica Rogers and Catherine Garza and sophomore Leanne Risberg all collected a hit apiece.
UCSB jumped on the board in the top of the first on a two-run home run by Wright that scored Christine Ramos, who had reached on a single.
UTSA threatened for a big inning in the bottom of the first. Back-to-back singles by Risberg and Rogers and a walk to senior Aimee Murray loaded the bases with one out. A wild pitch from starter Tami Weston allowed Risberg to score and brought Matsumoto into the game in relief. She worked out of the jam with a fly ball and a groundout.
Wright hit her second long ball in the third to give the gauchos a 3-1 lead. Danielle Meyers and Liz Walters slugged back-to-back round-trippers and Tisha Duran had a two-run double as UCSB tacked on four runs in the top of the fourth. Two more unearned runs came home in the fifth as UCSB held on for the 9-1 win.
The second game for the Roadrunners was a pitching duel as UTSA and Santa Clara mustered only three runs on nine hits. Jerrica Castagno (1-4) limited the Roadrunners to just three hits in seven scoreless innings as the Broncs won for the first time in 13 tries this season.
Rogers, Murray and junior Kourtney Jones had the only hits of the day for the Roadrunners.
Rogers and Murray recorded their singles in the top of the first, putting runners at the corners with two outs. Castagno induced a flyout to get out of the jam unscathed.
Meghan Chavez broke a scoreless tie with a solo home run to lead off the bottom of the fifth for Santa Clara. Angela Kabanuck later singled and scored on an error in the outfield to give the Broncs a 2-0 lead. An RBI-single by Chavez in the sixth gave Santa Clara an insurance run as Castagno stranded Jones, who walked, at first in the seventh.
The Roadrunners (4-10) face Northern Illinois on Sunday.
