Cal Poly Softball dropped a pair of games in Saturday’s double header to complete a 2-1 away series loss against Cal State Bakersfield over the weekend.
The series began on Friday, April 3 where the Mustangs (10-24, 4-11 Big West) rallied for an 8-5 comeback win, scoring four runs in the seventh inning to erase a one-game deficit.
Cal Poly’s Leilani Allen started the scoring in the first inning with a single to center field that drove in two runs.
A three-run home run put Bakersfield on the board in the top of the second inning.
Cal Poly responded with three runs of their own in the third inning. Centerfielder A’Niyla Byrd doubled to drive in Allen, then a Roadrunner error allowed Sienna Erskine and Micayla Arlotto to score.
After two more runs scored by Bakersfield, the Mustangs entered the seventh inning trailing 5-4. Karina Choi was the first to reach base to spark the comeback, before Venegas drove her in with a double to tie the game. A two-run home run by Myleigh Cooper and error by the Roadrunners secured the series-opening win.
This marked Cooper’s second home run of the season, and she now leads the team in home runs as the only player in double digits.
It marked Cal Poly’s fourth win in six games, a major turnaround from the beginning of conference play, which they started with seven straight losses.
Bakersfield responded to the loss with a 3-1 win in game one of Saturday’s doubleheader.
The Mustangs were held to one run despite six hits. The one run came in the sixth inning where Mylina Garza hit an RBI double to even the score 1-1.
Bakersfield answered with a two-run homerun to put Cal Poly under for good.
Game two of the doubleheader was another loss for Cal Poly, with a final score of 5-4.
The Mustangs attempted to mimic Friday’s game with a late game rally. All three of their runs came in the sixth and seventh innings, but it was just short of the spark needed to take their first conference series of the season.
An RBI double by Byrd put the Mustangs on the board for the first time, narrowing the gap to 4-1.
In the seventh inning, an RBI double by Cooper and RBI single by Byrd drove in three more runs, evening the score to 4-4.
The Roadrunners came up to the plate in the bottom of the seventh, and ended the series with a walk-off single to win the game.
Following this series, the Mustangs improved to ninth out of ten places in the Big West standings.
Their next Big West matchup is a three-game away series against UC San Diego. The Mustangs will face off against the Tritons at Triton Softball Field on April 11-12.