Cal Poly Softball continued Big West Conference play with a series split in a shortened series against the University of Hawai’i.
The Mustangs (18-12, 8-3 Big West) now sit in second place in the Big West Conference as the Rainbow Wahine (13-18, 6-4 Big West) sit in fourth place.
The series was originally scheduled for three games but a rain delay forced game one to be finished on Saturday as the third game was canceled.
Offense stalls in postponed game one
Junior centerfielder Jessica Clements’ two solo home runs were the only offense for Cal Poly as the Mustangs fell 3-2 in game one against Hawai’i
In a game that ultimately was played over two days, after a rain delay halted the game Friday evening in Manoa, the Mustangs’ offense struggled to get going on either day.
Clements, who leads the nation in batting average, blasted the third pitch of the ball game to the opposite field, giving the Mustangs an early advantage.
Sophomore right-hander Sophia Ramuno got the start in the circle, and went six strong innings, only allowing one earned run and two unearned.
Hawaii took the lead in the bottom of the second after a sacrifice bunt led to a throwing error that plated two runs.
The Rainbow Wahine would get a solo home run in the third to make it 3-1, but that is all Ramuno would concede the rest of the ball game.
After a bunt single in her second at-bat, Clements came up again in the sixth inning and took a pitch dead center to make it a 3-2 game. The rest of the lineup could never get going, and Clements ended up with three of the team’s four hits.
In a game where both starting pitchers went the distance, a lack of offense and sloppy fielding ultimately allowed Hawaii to come out on top.
The Mustang offense comes through in a bounce-back win
After a one-run loss in the series opener to Hawai’i, Cal Poly softball got back on track in game two of the series on Saturday with a 6-5 road victory in Honolulu.
After pitching a complete game with seven strikeouts in game one, Ramuno went back out to the circle for the Mustangs.
Ramuno, the anchor of the Mustang pitching staff, retired the first six batters she faced. She ran into some trouble in the third inning after giving up a three-run home run with two outs and was relieved by junior righthander Kate Judy.
Those three runs are unearned on the scorecard due to a ground ball that Ramuno mishandled before the homerun.
Down 3-2, the Mustangs were quick to respond, something they’ve been doing all season.
Just last weekend, in their 10-6 win over Blue-Green rival UC Santa Barbara, they responded to the Gaucho runs in the first, third and fourth innings with runs of their own.
In their 4-3 win the next game, they were down 1-0 after the first and responded with three in the bottom half of the inning.
Needing a response, the Mustangs put together a four-run inning in the top half of the fourth with senior shortstop Xiara Diaz tying the game with a sacrifice fly. Cal Poly scored on hits from sophomore left fielder Kiara Blanchard, sophomore third baseman Mylina Garza and junior catcher Julia Barnett.
Blanchard continues her solid sophomore campaign, hitting a .337 batting average with 22 RBIs.
After Ramuno exited the game with two outs, the Mustangs leaned on their two right-handed junior relievers. First, Judy came in to relieve Ramuno with two outs in the third, pitching two innings of relief work.
Next, with two down in the fifth inning and the Mustangs hanging onto a 6-5 lead, Paige Maier came in for Judy and shut down Hawai’i, as she did not concede a single hit the rest of the way.
Judy and Maier are both in the top 15 in the Big West in wins and strikeouts. They also are in the top 15 of lowest earned run average (ERA), as Maier has the 11th lowest in the conference with a 3.66 ERA and Judy has the 14th lowest with a 3.76 ERA. Maier’s 57.1 innings just cracked No. 15 in the Big West, while Judy is No. 18 in the conference with 54.0 innings.
The Mustangs will hit the road once again this weekend as they’ll be taking on Cal State Bakersfield in a three-game series starting with a doubleheader on Saturday, April 13.