In a trio of top-10 trials to open conference play, the Cal softball team narrowly avoided a sophomore slump.
The Bears completed a three-game series against No. 9 Stanford on Friday and Sunday after Saturday’s game was rained out. Though they blanked the Cardinal, 9-0, fairly easily in the first and third games, they let an early lead erode in the second matchup to put the result in jeopardy.
Sunday saw a doubleheader between the two Bay Area rivals, both of which the Bears nabbed. Cal (29-1, 3-0 Pac-12) opened up the first game, an eventual 4-3 victory, with another dominating ride, notching three runs in the top of the first. Britt Vonk extended the lead to 4-0 in the top of the fifth with an RBI, scoring Ashley Decker.
The Bears held a similar lead in the opening innings of Friday’s game, but unlike that match, the Cardinal (25-6, 0-3) was not silenced so easily. The sixth and seventh innings of Sunday’s first game saw Stanford claw its way back to within one. In the end, the Cardinal was unable to close Cal’s early lead and the Bears were able heave a sigh of relief.
While they narrowly escaped their second real threat of the season and emerged victorious from the potential come-from-behind loss, the final leg of the series looked more like the first. The Bears cruised to an 8-0 victory in Sunday’s second game. Though the first several innings remained scoreless, Cal broke the game open with two RBI off Valerie Arioto’s at bat in the top of the fifth. The two run lead was supplemented by a two-run homer from Frani Echavarria to bring the score to 4-0 in the top of the sixth.
The Bears tacked on four more runs in the final inning with home runs from Arioto and Jace Williams, along with hits from both Henderson sisters.
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