In the final series of the 2022 season for Cal Poly softball, the Mustangs dropped two of three games to UC San Diego on Friday, May 13 and Saturday, May 14 at Triton Softball Field.

The Mustangs (19-29, 14-13 Big West) finished the season in seventh place in the Big West, while the Tritons (27-26, 15-12) slid into the fifth spot in the standings.

Friday Game One

In the first game of the series, the Mustangs fell by a score of 6-2 to the Tritons.

UC San Diego opened up the game with three runs in the bottom of the first and they never looked back.

After a scoreless second inning, the Tritons tacked on one run in the third and two runs in the fourth to extend their lead to 6-2.

Cal Poly finally broke the scoreboard in the top of the sixth, when senior designated hitter Lily Amos singled home her sister, senior shortstop Maddie Amos, with two outs.

The Mustangs got out of the sixth without allowing a run and added another of their own thanks to an RBI single from sophomore catcher Kai Barrett to plate sophomore outfielder Sydney Frankenberger and make the score 6-2.

However, the comeback effort was too little, too late as the Tritons shut down the late rally to take the series-opening victory.

Friday Game Two

With a 3-2 victory in the second game of Friday’s doubleheader, the Mustangs clinched their first winning record in Big West play since 2014.

Freshman righthander Kate Judy was in the circle for the entirety of the game and played a vital role in the lone win of the weekend. 

The scoreboard was untouched until the top of the third when Barrett and freshman outfielder Jessica Clements reached the corners with one out. A passed ball from the Triton battery allowed Barrett to come home and plate the first run of the game, giving the Mustangs a 1-0 lead.

UC San Diego struggled against Judy all day, as she ultimately left six Tritons stranded throughout the game. 

Two more scoreless frames from Judy gave way to Cal Poly extending their lead to 3-0 in the top of the fifth when Maddie Amos delivered a two-run single to left-center field.

The UC San Diego offense finally came to life in the bottom of the fifth with two runs of their own, cutting the lead to just one at 3-2. However, Judy got out of the jam and left a runner stranded to maintain the advantage.

After a scoreless sixth for both squads and the Mustang offense unable to score in the seventh, Judy trotted back out to complete the win. After two more baserunners reached on an error and a single, the freshman pitched her way out of it again, getting a flyout to secure the 3-2 victory.

Saturday

The Saturday matchup saw Cal Poly’s season come to a disappointing end, as they conceded 10 unanswered runs to the Tritons and dropped the finale of the 2022 campaign by a score of 10-4.

A loss didn’t appear to be on the horizon as the first inning began, however. The Mustangs required just three batters to open the scoring in the contest, as Maddie Amos opened the final game of her Cal Poly career by following a one-out base hit from senior outfielder Noellah Ramos with an RBI single.

After sophomore right fielder Juju Sargent reached four pitches later on an error, Lily Amos added another single to load the bases for sophomore first baseman Hailey Prahm, who proceeded to rip a two-run base hit to right field and hand Cal Poly the 3-0 advantage.

This was the only lead the Mustangs would have for the entirety of the game and the only runs they would score until the final inning. UC San Diego began their offensive barrage with a leadoff single on the very first pitch they saw from senior Krystyna Allman, and two batters later had scored a run of their own, courtesy of an RBI double by second baseman Isabel Lavrov. 

It would only get worse from there for Cal Poly, as Allman only recorded one out in her outing before turning the ball over to Judy after a walk loaded the bases. The Tritons promptly went on to record three consecutive RBI singles to make it a 4-3 ballgame, and give themselves the lead after the first inning.

After a scoreless next two innings, UC San Diego put the game away for good with a five-run fourth inning in which third baseman Keila Bosinger, catcher Clarissa Reynoso and pinch hitter Marissa Hassis became the fifth, sixth and seventh different Tritons on the day with RBI singles, while right fielder Mikaila Pancino ripped a 1-2 pitch to center field to deliver a two-run base hit of her own. 

Cal Poly finally managed to escape the inning with a double play, but the Tritons would go on to add one more in the bottom of the sixth, and the two-out run the Mustangs would score in their frame of the seventh did nothing but delay the eventual 10-4 defeat.

Clements went 0-for-3 Saturday, missing out by a single hit on becoming the first Mustang to hit .400 in 15 seasons. Her .396 mark for the year, however, ranks as the sixth-highest batting average in Cal Poly’s single-season history.

Maddie Amos, meanwhile, finished 1-for-3 at the plate with a walk, bringing her four-year batting average to .318, and ending her career ranked 12th in program history.