Oregon State
California
No. 10 Cal Wins Opener from Softball
April 19, 2013 | Softball
April 19, 2013
BERKELEY, Calif. – Third baseman Desiree Beltran reached base twice, but No. 10 California defeated the Oregon State softball team, 8-0, Friday afternoon in the opening game of the teams' Pac-12 series. Beltran and center fielder Dani Gilmore had hits for the Beavers (26-16).
Gilmore got things going in the right direction with her leadoff at-bat, singling hard to left over the shortstop. Two batters later, shortstop Elizabeth Santana walked to put two Beavers on base, but Bears starter Jolene Henderson was able to wiggle off the hook without allowing a run.
Beavers starter Tina Andreana had her own jam in the bottom half of the inning, and it all began after she recorded what she thought was the third out of the inning. A pop out to first baseman Natalie Hampton should have ended the frame, but an illegal pitch ruling from the third base umpire kept the at-bat alive. That hitter and the next each walked to put two runners on, but Andreana forced a pop to second baseman Ya Garcia to end the inning without any damage.
Beltran reached on an error in the second and a solid single to left in the fourth but was stranded each time. In the second, she moved as far as second after a groundout, but Henderson struck out the final two hitters of the inning to leave her there. Her single in the fourth with two outs was the only action of the inning for OSU as the Beavers looked to respond to Cal's 3-0 lead. The Bears added three runs in the fourth inning and two more in the fifth to round out the scoring.
The Beavers and Bears come back tomorrow at 1:00 p.m. for the middle game of the series.
