Anna Vignet/File

Editor’s Note: Over summer, the Daily Californian will be releasing its power rankings of Cal’s sports as decided by the Daily Cal sports staff. Stay tuned for No. 10 and No. 9 next week!

For a team that was a preseason favorite to land in the Women’s College World Series, making The Daily Californian’s list of the top-10 Cal sports teams as an honorable mention shouldn’t be an honor.

Make no mistake about it: “Honorable mention” signifies just how disappointing of a turn the season took this spring for the Cal softball team.

If you asked me back in February, I would have guaranteed that the Cal softball team would get more than just an honorable mention. And, to tell you the truth, a couple of weeks ago, I argued that they deserved to be in the top 10. After all, this was a team that went 38-19 overall despite losing one of the best pitchers in the country, Jolene Henderson, for an extended period. Heck, at one point, the Bears won 22 games in a row this season.

But the hard truth that I realized was that this was not a great team. With Henderson healthy, this was still a very good team. But without Henderson, the Bears were simply awful.

They couldn’t win a game.

Cal went 0-6 with Henderson riding the bench because of a torn ACL, ending the Pac-12 season on a 1-8 downward spiral. Cal’s flaws were exposed — a wound no longer protected by its dressing but instead out in the open and ready to be compromised.

Without Henderson on the mound, Cal’s offensive struggles came to the forefront. The Bears’ team batting average of .268 was the worst in the Pac-12. Sans Henderson, Cal was forced to score runs at a rate that it simply couldn’t win with.

Henderson also covered up the Bears defensive struggles. With her 267 strikeouts — second-best in the Pac-12 — the pressure to make defensive plays was off her teammates. Still, the Bears finished second-worst in the Pac-12 with 58 errors.

After getting swept by archrival Stanford May 3 through May 5, Cal coach Diane Ninemire admitted that she didn’t understand why her squad was playing so poorly.

“(Henderson’s injury) shouldn’t change our quality at-bats,” Ninemire said. “It shouldn’t change the way we throw a ball or field it. It’s a little disturbing to try and understand why the team is responding the way that it is.”

Some call it the Peyton Manning effect. In 2010, the Indianapolis Colts went 10-6 and advanced to the postseason. In 2011, with quarterback Peyton Manning absent with a neck injury, they went 2-14. Without Manning, the Colts went from one of the best teams in the league to the absolute worst.

Henderson’s injury didn’t doom the Bears. After all, they still made the postseason with Henderson pitching and were a couple of wins away from advancing to the Super Regional. They still ended the season ranked as the 22nd best team in the country.

But for two weeks, the Cal softball team looked as lost and as hapless as a team can look.

It’s difficult to anoint a team “great” when it relies almost entirely on one player. It’s even harder to put them in the top 10 of Cal sports when that team can’t win a game without its star player.

Just call it the Jolene Henderson effect.

Sean Wagner-McGough covers softball. Contact him at swagnermcgough@dailycal.org. Follow him on Twitter @seanjwagner.

The post Power Rankings: honorable mention softball appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Mary Zheng/File

The Cal softball team’s season ended the same way it began — with a fine-tuned pitching performance from Jolene Henderson, a dreadful offensive game and a heartbreaking loss.

On Feb. 8, when Cal was regarded as one of the best teams in the nation, it fell to upstart Kentucky, 3-1, in extra innings in the opening game of the season. The loss was seen as nothing more than an anomaly at the time, and the Bears still seemed destined for the Women’s College World Series.

But the Bears (38-19) fell short of winning the Michigan Regional this past weekend, while the hometown Wolverines (48-10) secured the trophy with relative ease.

After overpowering Central Michigan (33-20) 8-1 on Friday, the Bears were blanked by Michigan 5-0 the next day. Cal responded with a 6-0 thrashing of Valparaiso (35-27), a game that saw Henderson (32-11) throw her fourth career no hitter, but ultimately couldn’t solve Michigan pitcher Sara Driesenga in the final game of the regional in a 3-1 loss.

On Friday afternoon, the Cal offense came out firing on all cylinders against Central Michigan pitcher Kara Dornbos. Cal went yard four times in the 8-1 blowout while Henderson, only in her second full game back from her left-knee injury, dominated the CMU lineup from start to finish.

Henderson’s sister, Danielle Henderson, accounted for two of the Bears’ four home runs. The other two long balls came off of the bats of junior Victoria Jones and senior Lindsey Ziegenhirt.

The Bears ran into a roadblock on Saturday, though, when they were shut down by Driesenga. Both Henderson and freshman pitcher Nisa Ontiveros kept pace with Driesenga, but defensive miscues cost the Bears three unearned runs.

After the loss, Cal found itself on the loser’s side of the bracket. Facing Valparaiso for the chance to rematch Michigan in the final round, Henderson was at her best.

For the fourth time in her career, the All-American pitched a no-hitter. Jones led the offensive attack for Cal with two RBIs, and freshman Khala Taylor went three-for-five off of Valparaiso pitcher Sierra Pico (11-10).

Heading into the final matchup with Michigan, the Bears would have had to defeat the Wolverines twice in order to move on to the Super Regional Round next weekend — Michigan, on the other hand, only had to defeat Cal once to advance.

Henderson kept her offense within striking range, only giving up three runs to the vaunted Michigan offense. However, Cal’s offense was stymied — its only run coming off of a home run by shortstop Cheyenne Cordes.

Down to their last three outs and trailing 3-1, the Bears found themselves with the tying run on first base and the winning run at the plate. Up at the plate, Cordes quickly found herself in a full count. With two outs, a double would most likely score both runners and send the game into extra innings. Cordes turned on the payoff pitch and launched it into deep right-center field.

But needing 375 feet to clear the wall for the walk-off home run, Cordes only got enough on the ball for it to travel 370 feet.

It fell harmlessly into the mitt of Michigan outfielder Nicole Sappingfield, ending Cal’s season.

Sean Wagner-McGough covers softball. Contact him at swagnermcgough@dailycal.org. Follow him on Twitter @seanjwagner.

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Anthony Martinez/File

Despite a nine-game losing streak and a fifth-place finish in the Pac-12, the Cal softball team might just be the team that nobody wants to face in the postseason.

Due in large part to Jolene Henderson’s healthy return to the circle, the Bears (36-17) finally resemble the team they were during their 24-game winning streak in pre-conference play. With its Pac-12 struggles now just a remnant of the past, Cal feels like it is finally coming together.

“I think we’re firing on all cylinders right now,” said sophomore shortstop Cheyenne Cordes. “We’re all getting healthy. We’re all on the come-up.”

Starting on Friday in Ann Arbor, Mich., Cal will open postseason play in the NCAA Softball Tournament Regionals against Central Michigan (33-18). The winner of the series will go on to face the victor of the eighth-seeded Michigan (45-10) and Valparaiso (34-25) matchup.

In a double-elimination style tournament, the winner of the Michigan Regional will advance to the Super Regional round, where it will face off against the winner of the LSU Regional.

Just two hours from Ann Arbor, CMU should hold a home-field advantage over Cal, even though the regional location is considered neutral for both squads. CMU currently boasts a team batting average of .286, led by senior outfielder Macy Merchant and her .415 batting average.

The Bears’ hopes will rest on the shoulders and the injured left knee of Henderson. Despite missing six games due to injury, the All-American still led the Pac-12 with 35 starts, 28 wins, 262.2 innings pitched and an ERA of 1.20. However, with the inconsistencies of Cal’s offensive attack, Henderson can’t afford any major slip-ups. The Bears finished the season with a team batting average of .267 — the worst in the conference.

“I think it all has to do with the lineup being relaxed,” Cordes said. “We added some unnecessary pressure on to ourselves.”

Cal’s biggest obstacle on its path to the LSU Super Regional should be Michigan. The Wolverines cruised to a 20-2 finish in the Big 10 behind the .399 batting average of first baseman and catcher Caitlin Blanchard and the 1.81 ERA of Sara Driesenga. Undefeated at home, Michigan holds a sizeable advantage over the Bears and their 8-8 road record.

Last season, Cal hosted the regional and emerged as the winners. But this season, it doesn’t enter as the favorites but instead as the underdogs.

“There’s definitely somewhat of a different feel,” Cordes said. “Last year, it was more of an expectation (to win). We still expect to win, but we’ve gone through the struggle (this season).”

Despite the Bears having to battle several injuries this season, Cordes stressed the importance of ending the season on a positive and healthy note. After injuries to Henderson, utility player Victoria Jones and Cordes herself, the Bears are finally healthy again. And after going winless in a three-week span, the Bears finally defeated Washington last Saturday.

“We had never had a nine-game losing streak,” Cordes said. “For us to end on that winning note was a big deal. We even called it the start of our winning streak.”

Sean Wagner-McGough covers softball. Contact him at swagnermcgough@dailycal.org. Follow him on Twitter @seanjwagner.

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Anna Vignet/Senior Staff

Up by one run in the bottom of the seventh inning, the Cal softball team was just one out away from snapping its nine-game losing streak. All-American pitcher Jolene Henderson, finally healthy after suffering a left knee injury on April 21, was tasked with slamming the door on the No. 12 Huskies (38-15, 16-8 Pac-12).

Henderson (30-9) made sure the No. 17 Bears (36-17,10-14 Pac-12) left Husky Softball Stadium in Seattle with a win. Striking out the first two batters of the final inning, the senior allowed a two-out base runner before inducing a flyout to center field to secure the 3-2 win. After doing nothing but losing for the past three weeks, the Bears finally got off the schneid.

Although the Bears were outhit in the game 9-6, sophomore first baseman Breana Kostreba launched a two-run homer in the second inning to provide the offensive spark. With Danielle Henderson on first base, Kostreba took a changeup from Washington pitcher Kaitlin Inglesby (21-7) and gave Jolene Henderson some invaluable run support.

“I sat on the second pitch that I got, which was a changeup,” Kostreba said. “The game before, I had struggled with the changeup, so I was looking for it.”

The next inning, freshman outfielder and speedster Khala Taylor reached first base on a bunt single. After advancing to second base on a groundout, Taylor was brought home by a two-out RBI triple by Danielle Henderson. It was Henderson’s first triple of the season and provided the winning tally.

Jolene Henderson also received plenty of defensive support. Despite committing a fielding error, Taylor also threw out two runners at the plate in the first and fifth innings.

“(Khala’s) a game changer,” Henderson said. “She really just shut down that team trying to run on her.”

Despite the win, the Bears still lost the series to Washington, losing games one and two by scores of 7-4 and 9-8, respectively.

Less than 24 hours before Saturday’s win, Henderson had the opportunity to bring home a win in game two. After rallying back from a four-run deficit in the sixth inning, the Bears pulled in front of the Huskies 8-7 in the seventh inning. Henderson retired the first two batters she faced in the seventh, but when third baseman Danielle Henderson committed a throwing error, the Huskies pounced.

After back-to-back two-out singles, the game was headed to extra innings. And just two innings later, Washington catcher Shawna Wright blasted a solo shot to left field for the 9-8 victory, extending Cal’s losing streak to nine games.

“We knew that we could have won that game and that we should have won that game,” said Kostreba.

With the Pac-12 season now expired, Cal finished in fifth place in the conference. Despite not meeting pre-season expectations set by their Pac-12 title in 2012, the Bears will head into the first round of the postseason, the NCAA Regionals, finally healthy again. After losing Henderson, shortstop Cheyenne Cordes and utility player Victoria Jones to injuries within the past three weeks, all three players saw the field this weekend.

“All the pieces are just coming together,” Henderson said. “(We’re going to) start a new streak.”

Sean Wagner-McGough covers softball. Contact him at swagnermcgough@dailycal.org. Follow him on Twitter @seanjwagner.

The post Against Washington, Cal softball snaps nine-game losing streak appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Anthony Martinez/File

Just a season ago, the Cal softball team was at the pinnacle of the Pac-12, boasting a 58-7 record at the end of the season.

But ever since All-American Jolene Henderson hurt her leg more than two weeks ago this season, the Bears haven’t won a single game.

Cal’s recent seven-game losing streak mirrors the number of games last year’s Cal team lost all season. The Bears need a savior­ — and with the Women’s College World Series just around the corner, Henderson’s return could not come at a better time. Head coach Diane Ninemire expects to ease Henderson back in from injury by playing her a few pitches in this upcoming series.

“With Jolene, she brings a lot of confidence to the mound, and I think that’s very contagious to the team,” said pitcher Nikki Owens. “I think her mentality brings a lot to the field, and it’s hard to compensate when she’s not on it.”

Desperately in need of a win to end the losing streak, Cal (35-15, 9-12 Pac-12) will face No. 11 Washington this Thursday night in a three-game series in Seattle at Husky Stadium. This will be the Bears’ last series of the regular season before they advance to the WCWS.

After being swept by Arizona State and Bay Area rival Stanford, Cal has plummeted to No. 20 in the NCAA rankings, in which it stood at No. 3 at the beginning of the season. Henderson’s return should not only give the Bears the pitching edge they have lacked in the past two series, but it should also restore the confidence they lost during their losing streak.

Hoping to find its stride again, Cal will need to win this series against the Huskies (36-14, 14-7 Pac-12) to prove that it can survive in the postseason. But considering the strength of the Huskies’ offense, a series win will still be a tall order.

“Washington is a really good hitting team,” said third-baseman Danielle Henderson. “They have a lot of girls that can hit for power. The defense really needs to have the pitchers’ backs, and the offense needs to do their job.”

Jolene Henderson will not be coming back during a game she can just cruise her way through. Led by Victoria Hayward, Hooch Fagaly and Kaitlin Inglesby, Washington’s offense is among the best in the Pac-12. The Huskies’ offense is batting a combined .313, while Cal’s offense is a mere .268.

To make the situation even more difficult, the Huskies have only lost three games at home this entire season, while the Bears have been mediocre on the road with a 7-6 away record, especially against Pac-12 opponents.

However, the Bears see their underdog position as a plus rather than an obstacle and will use that to their advantage.

“I don’t think anyone expects us to do well this series other than ourselves, so if we just hold ourselves to our own expectations and play with no pressure, then we’ll play a lot better,” Owens said.

Johnny Zhang covers softball. Contact him at jzhang@dailycal.org Follow him on Twitter @thejohnnyzhang.

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Anthony Martinez/Staff

When Jolene Henderson went down with a left-knee injury on April 21, Cal softball coach Diane Ninemire was forced to rely on a reserve pitching rotation and an offense that was among the worst in the Pac-12.

But nobody could have expected Cal to fall apart like it has in the last seven games.

Winless in their last seven attempts, the No. 12 Bears (35-15, 9-12 Pac-12) were dispatched with relative ease by their archrival, No. 16 Stanford (35-17, 12-9 Pac-12). The Cardinal ripped the Bears apart, winning 13-5 on Friday, 17-2 on Saturday and 7-5 on Sunday.

“(Henderson’s injury) shouldn’t change our quality at-bats,” Ninemire said. “It shouldn’t change the way we throw a ball or field it. It’s a little disturbing to try and understand why the team is responding the way that it is.”

Friday’s game saw the Bears utilize their only three healthy reserve pitchers — Nisa Ontiveros, Nikki Owens and Taylor Lee. The Cardinal jumped all over the trio, scoring 13 runs via 15 hits.

“Our pitching was not up to the Division-1 softball level,” Ninemire said.

The going only got worse for the Cal pitching staff. In one of the most lopsided defeats in school history, the Bears were whipped in game two, 17-2.

In her second straight start, Ontiveros was simply overpowered. The freshman was responsible for eight earned runs, eleven hits and three walks in just two innings of work.

“I was just missing my spots,” Ontiveros said.

With the Bears only managing two runs on one hit, the game was called early due to the mercy rule. At this point in the series, Ninemire decided to turn to an unfamiliar arm for the series finale.

Freshman outfielder Vanessa Alvarez was told roughly an hour before the first pitch that she was going to make her first career start in the circle. Although Alvarez grew up pitching, she hadn’t pitched in eight months, with the exception of one practice session.

“(Starting Alvarez) was a result of the first two games and not getting it done,” Ninemire said. “I felt like we were in a situation where we had to see if we had something else that we could offer to help throw their batters off.”

By limiting Stanford to just a few hits in the early goings, Alvarez kept Cal’s hopes very much alive. Still, the Cardinal took advantage of a couple of risers from Alvarez to jump out to a quick lead off of two home-runs.

“I have a natural rise to my ball,” Alvarez said. “I just left it up there to the bigger girls, and they caught on to it.”

Although Ninemire was impressed with Alvarez’s resolve in her first career start, she was upset with the defensive effort behind the freshman — an effort that led to two critical insurance runs for Stanford.

“Unfortunately, we made key errors behind her today,” Ninemire said. “Those two runs, which scored on those throwing errors, ended up somewhat making a difference in us staying in the game, because we were starting to rally in the last inning.”

“But who knows? Should’ve, could’ve, would’ve.”

Sean Wagner-McGough covers softball. Contact him at swagnermcgough@dailycal.org. Follow him on Twitter @seanjwagner.

The post Cal softball swept by Stanford as pitching struggles continue appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Anthony Martinez/File

Earlier this season, the Cal softball team was riding high, putting together 22-game win streak.

As the regular season comes to an end, the Bears find themselves sitting fourth in the Pac-12, barely holding on to its .500 conference record.

It’s amazing how much of a difference one player makes.

Cal just hasn’t looked the same since the team’s perennial All-American pitcher, Jolene Henderson, suffered a knee injury more than a week and a half ago. Henderson is still day-to-day and will most likely not play in the upcoming series against Bay Area rivals Stanford (32-16 overall, 9-9 in the Pac-12) this weekend.

“I definitely don’t think (the injury) is season-ending,” Henderson said. “I expect to be out on the field before postseason.”

No. 13 Cal (35-12 overall, 9-9 in the Pac-12) has been 0-3 without Henderson so far and will face the Cardinal in a three-game series at home in Levine-Fricke stadium starting Friday afternoon.

As of now, though, the Bears are effectively out of the running for the Pac-12 title and on the verge of losing their ranked seed for the Women’s College World Series.

Without Henderson, the rest of Cal’s regular season looks bleak.
Reserve pitchers freshman Nisa Ontiveros and sophomore Nikki Owens have ERAs of 4.10 and 5.73, respectively, in their 10 combined starts. Compared to Henderson’s 1.21 ERA, it’s obvious how much of a factor Henderson is in defense.

Without Henderson, the Bears gave up 26 runs against Arizona State last weekend. To put that number into perspective, Cal had only given up 34 runs in losses during the entire regular season before the series against the Sun Devils.

Ontiveros and Owens will need to shut down the Cardinal’s collection of impressive batters, led by freshman standout Kayla Bonstrom and sophomore infielder Hanna Winter, who are leading Stanford in both hits and batting average. Judging by the way Cal’s pitchers miserably handled Arizona State’s star-studded offense, Ontiveros and Owens will need help from the Bears’ offense to keep the series from getting out of hand.

Stanford pitchers Teagan Gerhart and Kelsey Stevens, whose ERAs are both less than 3.00, will make it difficult for the Bears’ offense to get going. Cal will need to get its bats moving early on — otherwise the Bears will find themselves being shut out or run-ruled like they did in the Arizona State series.

If Cal takes the series, they can pull away from Stanford in the Pac-12 rankings and even overtake Washington for third. Right now, the Bears just need to focus on improving their seed for the WCWS to put Henderson in the best possible position to hopefully make a return trip to the championship series.

“Any team in postseason needs to peak at the right time, and I still think we have yet to reach our potential and we have yet to peak at our top performance,” said catcher Lindsey Ziegenhirt. “I’m excited to see everything come together in the next few weeks going into postseason.”

Johnny Zhang covers softball. Contact him at jzhang@dailycal.org Follow him on Twitter @thejohnnyzhang.

The post Cal softball set for clash with Stanford sans Henderson appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Anthony Martinez/File

With the scorching sun beaming down on Farrington Stadium, the Bears were seemingly in hibernation mode, and the Sun Devils were in domination mode.

The Cal softball team (35-12, 9-9 Pac-12) was swept in humbling fashion by Arizona State (42-7, 13-5 Pac-12) this weekend, losing 10-2, 11-0 and 5-3.

Head coach Diane Ninemire declined to comment following Sunday’s series finale, stating through a spokesperson that she would rather have her players speak for their performance.

Missing staff ace Jolene Henderson because of a knee injury, Cal was forced to rely on Nisa Ontiveros and Nikki Owens. Before Friday, the two pitchers had combined for seven career starts.

All it took was one inning for the Bears to learn that life without Henderson isn’t a pretty one. With the All-American watching from the dugout, Ontiveros surrendered six runs in the first inning of the first game on Friday.

“(My pitches) were up in the zone…just a lot of plate,” Ontiveros said. “They took advantage of it.”

Owens stepped into the circle to replace Ontiveros, giving up four earned runs in just 4.1 innings of work.

Because Cal only managed to score two runs and was trailing by eight runs, the game was called after five innings.

“We have much more potential than we’re showing,” Cheyenne Cordes said.

The last time the Cal softball team gave up at least 10 runs in a single game was two years ago against Pacific. The last time the Bears were run-ruled was against Kentucky that same season.

Owens got the start in the second game, but it wasn’t an improvement from Ontiveros’ start. Lasting just two innings, Owens gave up eight earned runs.

After the first two games of the series, the explosive Arizona State lineup was hitting .444 in the series.

“I have a lot of faith things are only going to get better from here,” Cordes said when asked about the pitching performances of Ontiveros and Owens.

Hoping the third time was the charm, Cal sent Ontiveros back out to start game three. After surrendering one run in the first inning, the Bears took their first lead in the series off home runs by Breana Kostreba and Vanessa Alvarez in the second inning.

The wheels fell off in the third inning though, as Arizona State regained the lead with a four-run rally. Cordes botched two tough ground balls in the inning, that, if fielded cleanly, would have gotten Ontiveros out of the inning.

“Sometimes you get bad hops,” Cordes said. “If I could go back and do it differently, I wouldn’t.”

Still, Cal had its chances to get back into the game. The Bears loaded the bases in the fifth with two outs, but Lindsey Ziegenhirt just missed a grand slam when she flew out to deep center.

In the bottom of the seventh, Cal cut the lead to two, but with two outs and the tying runner at the plate, Ziegenhirt once again just missed going yard. This time, the senior pulled the ball just to the left of the foul ball pole in left field, before eventually grounding into a fielder’s choice, rendering the sweep complete.

Sean Wagner-McGough covers softball. Contact him at swagnermcgough@dailycal.org. Follow him on Twitter @seanjwagner.

The post Without Henderson, Cal softball embarrassed by ASU appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Anthony Martinez/Staff

The path to success isn’t going to be smoothly paved for the Cal softball team this season. In fact, the Bears are going to face their toughest obstacle yet for a Pac-12 title, all without their leader Jolene Henderson.

During last Sunday’s home game against Oregon State, Henderson, Cal’s superstar pitcher, left the game clutching her left leg while throwing a ball to first. An update confirms that Henderson suffered a knee injury and is now day-to-day, and will be unable to play this week against No. 5 Arizona State. The three-game series will start Friday afternoon at the Alberta B. Farrington stadium in Tempe, Ariz.

“I don’t think this injury is season ending,” said Henderson. “I expect to be out on the field before the post-season.”

Henderson is expected to return later in the season and is currently rehabbing to expedite her time off the field. With the Bears currently trailing three teams for first in the conference, Henderson’s presence is crucial for Cal to even have a shot at winning the Pac-12 title and getting home field advantage for the second round of the WCWS. A series win against the Sun Devils would put the Bears in third place in the Pac-12 and drop Arizona State to fourth.

For the first time this season during conference play, the Bears will need to find another answer to fill in the gap on defense left by Henderson’s absence. Cal’s small glimmer of hope will lie in the hands of its reserve pitchers, freshman Nisa Ontiveros and sophomore Nikki Owens. An effective combination of both pitchers will be the only way to deter Arizona State’s offensive barrage consisting of six players batting [over] *more than* .350.

“[The biggest challenge is] definitely going to be keeping their batters off-balance,” said Ontiveros. “Not throw anything that their batters can get a hold of and have my defense help me out.”

With only two career starts in the circle, Owens only pitched against teams that the Bears have never lost against. Ontiveros has started five games and is 4-1 in those games. This series against Arizona State (39-7 overall, 10-5 Pac-12) will be the first opportunity for both pitchers to start during a conference game and truly showcase their skill against an elite offense.

The good news for the No. 10 Bears (35-9 overall, 9-6 Pac-12) is that the Sun Devils have been slumping recently. Arizona State dropped its last series against unranked Utah, which Cal already swept earlier this season. The Bears also won their last series against Oregon State and will be looking to keep the momentum flowing into the Arizona State series.

Cal needs to watch out for the Sun Devil’s onslaught of heavy hitters. The Arizona State stars, catcher Amber Freeman and shortstop Cheyenne Coyle, are the players that will most likely give Owens and Ontiveros the most trouble.

“After the Oregon State series when I left the game, the team stepped up a lot,” said Henderson. “Nisa stepped up into a very high pressure situation and did really well. The pitchers grew a lot during that [game] *game,* and I think they’ll grow even more during this series.”

Johnny Zhang covers softball. Contact him at jzhang@dailycal.org Follow him on Twitter @thejohnnyzhang.

The post Without star pitcher, Cal softball faces crucial test appeared first on The Daily Californian.

The inning wasn’t over, but Henderson’s day was.

Moments after throwing the ball to first base, Henderson grimaced and collapsed to the ground holding her left leg. In seconds, the crowd at Levine-Fricke field turned from raucous to dead silent.

As the All-American sat down, clutching her leg, the Cal infielders surrounded their star pitcher, along with the Cal training staff. After a few minutes, Henderson was carried off the field by two trainers.

Immediately following the game, Henderson was carted away from Levine-Fricke field.

“She’s down with the medical staff right now,” said Cal coach Diane Ninemire. “I have nothing to report because I don’t know.”

Although the specifics of the injury are unknown at this point, losing Henderson for an extended amount of time seriously dampens the Bears’ hopes of an NCAA championship. She has started 33 of the 44 games the Bears have played this season, appearing in all but four games for a total of 249.2 innings pitched.

“(It’s devastating) anytime you lose a player of her caliber on any team,” Ninemire said.

Adding insult to injury, the Bears also lost the game in a heartbreaking manner when they stranded the bases loaded in the bottom of the seventh. In the previous inning, Cal also left runners on first and second with no outs, when Lindsey Ziegenhirt, Danielle Henderson and Jolene Henderson all went down on consecutive strikeouts.

“This is a day where you kind of just beat yourself,” Ninemire said.

Although it fell 1-0 on Sunday, Cal (35-9, 9-6 Pac-12) beat Oregon State (27-17, 4-11 Pac-12) in the first two games of the series, 8-0 and 3-1, on Friday and Saturday, respectively.

The first game was never close. The Bears jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the bottom of the second inning and led 6-0 after four innings.

In the bottom of the fifth, Cal put an end to the game via the mercy rule when Cheyenne Cordes jacked a two-run bomb to stretch the final margin to 8-0.

After initially missing out on two pitches right down the middle from Oregon State starter Tina Andreana, Cordes was all over the next fastball she saw.

“I watched two fatties, and I was thinking, ‘Well, I better do something now since I watched two fatties,’” Cordes said. “The pitch was a little high, but I just got my hands up and tomahawked it over the fence.”

The Bears utilized seven dominant innings from Henderson on Saturday to take the second game by a score of 3-1. Breana Kostreba and Victoria Jones each went yard for Cal, while Cordes added an RBI single.

Despite winning two of three, Ninemire was not pleased by the weekend’s results.

“In my mind, this was a weekend that we needed to win three,” Ninemire said. “Now we’ve really put our backs against the wall.”

Sean Wagner-McGough covers softball. Contact him at swagnermcgough@dailycal.org. Follow him on Twitter @seanjwagner.

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