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.

The post With Henderson’s return, Cal softball seeks first postseason win against Central Michigan appeared first on The Daily Californian.

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.

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.

The post Henderson returns as Cal softball battles Washington appeared first on The Daily Californian.

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.

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.

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.

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.

The post Jolene Henderson injured as Cal softball falls to Oregon State appeared first on The Daily Californian.

Fast forward almost one year, and the No. 10 Bears (33-8, 7-5 Pac-12) are sitting in fourth place. Three games back of first-place Oregon, Cal doesn’t control its own destiny in the Pac-12, but a sweep of last-place Oregon State (26-15, 3-9 Pac-12) would ensure that they remain a factor in the Pac-12 race.

The Bears take on the Beavers from Friday to Sunday in a three-game set. According to starting third baseman Danielle Henderson, the key for Cal will be to worry about its own business — not Oregon’s.

“We’re not at all thinking of catching Oregon right now,” Henderson said. “We’re just focused on the games ahead of us.”

The key to defeating Oregon State will come down to how effective Henderson’s sister, Jolene, is in the circle. Henderson, who is 27-7 on the season with a 1.27 ERA, will have her hands full with a Beavers lineup that has five players batting at least .300.

Ya Garcia and Natalie Hampton lead the way for Oregon State’s lineup. Garcia is batting .379 while Hampton has jacked 13 long balls this season to go along with her sizzling .362 batting average.

Even if Henderson manages to shut down both down, she will need offensive help. The Cal offense struggled as of late — the primary reason for the last two series losses to UCLA and Oregon.

Against UCLA last weekend, Cal only managed to score 12 runs in 28 innings of play. With eight of those runs coming in two innings, the Bears demonstrated their fast-strike ability. But by only scoring four runs in the remaining 26 innings, Cal’s lack of hitting success with runners in scoring position was highlighted as the main culprit.

Moving forward, Henderson asserted the importance of being in the right frame of mind.

“We focused on relaxing,” Danielle Henderson said. “We put more pressure on ourselves than was necessary.”

After only winning one game against UCLA last weekend, Cal took care of business in a non conference clash against Santa Clara (6-35) on Wednesday. In a 5-0 victory against the Broncos, Cal was able give Jolene Henderson some much-needed rest, as all 17 healthy players received playing time.

Despite the bumpy conference season to this point, Danielle Henderson thinks the adversity of the regular season will pay dividends in the postseason. The majority of the roster was on the team that won the Pac-12 title last season and still remember that dominating run.

But they also remember faltering in the later rounds of the NCAA Women’s College World Series later that same season.

“There are going to be all kinds of struggles, both offensive and defensive,” Danielle Henderson said. “We’re learning how to bounce back from them.

“Last year in the postseason, where we did great the entire season and then faced with adversity in the end, it wasn’t so great.”

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

The post Cal softball looks to rebound against Oregon State, keep Pac-12 title hopes alive appeared first on The Daily Californian.

After dropping two of three to first-place Oregon last weekend, Cal’s chances of repeating as Pac-12 champions shrank considerably against rival UCLA (28-14, 5-10 Pac-12). The Bears won one game of three in Los Angeles, dropping Cal’s Pac-12 record to 7-5.

The Bears currently sit in fourth place, three games behind the Ducks.
Despite dropping two extra-inning thrillers, the Bears think that the losses will help them grow as the season progresses.

“I mean, (the losses) weren’t heartbreakers,” said outfielder Khala Taylor. “Every loss we take with a grain of salt. It’s just helping us grow as a team.”

All three games against the Bruins went into extra innings. Cal got its only win on Saturday, winning 5-1 in a 10-inning marathon while losing the first two nine-inning games by scores of 6-5 and 3-2 on Thursday and Friday, respectively.

The series started off promising enough for the Bears on Thursday, as they jumped out to a quick 4-0 lead in the first.

However, the Bears were shut down for the rest of the game, only managing one more run against UCLA starter Paige McDufee before getting shut out by reliever Ally Carda. Carda pitched 3 2/3 innings and didn’t allow a single hit while only walking two batters.

The Bruins fought back against Cal staff ace Jolene Henderson (27-7), tallying 12 hits and six runs against the All-American. Henderson had a chance to close out the game in the bottom of the seventh, but she surrendered an RBI single to Stephany Larosa.

In extra innings, the Bruins provided the winning run in the bottom of the ninth, capitalizing on an error by Cal shortstop Cheyenne Cordes that allowed Allexis Bennett to score.

“It was just a battle and a brawl,” Taylor said.

The Bears’ fortune didn’t change in Friday’s game, scoring just two runs.

Nisa Ontiveros and Henderson were stellar on the mound, but Henderson picked up the loss when she gave up a run in the bottom of the ninth.

Saturday’s game was another pitching duel between Henderson and Carda. After each team tacked one early run on the board in the first inning, both were shut out until the 10th.

The Bears’ bats finally woke up in the top of the 10th, when Ziegenhirt hit a sacrifice fly for the winning RBI and Henderson blasted a three-run homer to secure the win.

Up next for Cal is Oregon State. A third consecutive series loss would end any hope Cal has of repeating as Pac-12 champions.

Still, the Bears feel as if they still have a shot of winning the conference title.

“We as a team can definitely win a Pac-12 title,” Taylor said. “We’re mentally strong and unified. “All we have to do is keep it going and keep it positive. We’ll just get it done.”

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

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