Capital Classic Home Page

SACRAMENTO -- Sacramento State split a pair of games on the final day of the Capital Classic Softball Tournament, defeating Santa Clara, 5-4, in eight innings, and falling to UConn, 9-3, on Sunday afternoon at Shea Stadium.

The win over Santa Clara included plenty of drama, highlighted by a seventh inning that fans in attendance won't soon forget. With the Hornets trailing, 4-3, no one on base and down to their final out, true freshman Lewa Day hit an opposite field inside-the-park home run to tie the game.

With 20 mile per hour winds whipping through Shea Stadium, Day hit a ball high into the right-center field sky the wind caught hold of and played havoc with Santa Clara right fielder Briana Reynolds. What should have been a routine fly ball turned into Reynolds frantically tracing a ball the wind was pushing far to the right. Reynolds got turned around the wrong way, then went sprinting towards the ball and reached out to try and make the grab. The ball nicked off the side of her glove and bounced about 10 feet away. Meanwhile, Day ran hard out of the batters box and kept sprinting all the way around the base paths, easily beating the throw home to tie the score at 4-4. The home run was the fourth of the season for the third baseman.

The eighth inning featured more dramatics as Santa Clara had a runner at third base with one out when Hornet freshman left fielder Haley Hanson caught a fly ball and threw a perfect strike to nab Sarah Ellersick at the plate. The double play ended the inning, setting up the Hornets' walkoff in the bottom of the frame. Sacramento State got a runner to third with one out, and Katie Vretzos hit a comebacker to the mound. Bronco pitcher Hannah Edwards made a knee high throw to first base that bounced off first baseman Sammy Needham's glove to allow pinch runner Charizma Guzman to easily score from third.

With the split, Sacramento State concluded the three-day Capital Classic with a 2-2 record. That included a win over Utah State and losses to Texas State and UConn. The Hornets had a game vs. Saint Mary's stopped in the ninth inning with the score tied at 8-8 due to darkness. That game will resume later this year, and those game stats do not count until it is finalized. For all the tournament scores, click here to see the tourney home page.

Sacramento State moved its record to 12-8 overall and 7-3 at home. UConn improved to 9-4 and Santa Clara dropped to 7-13.

Freshman Marissa Bertuccio (4-0) was impressive in the win over Santa Clara, throwing eight innings while allowing just seven hits with one earned run and seven strikeouts. Sacramento State's defense committed two costly errors that allowed three unearned runs to score.

The Hornets got on the board in the first inning when Amber Rodriguez hammered a two-out, two-run double scoring both Hanson and Alondra Mejia. Sacramento State posted another run in the third when Kailie Hargis scored on an error. That gave Sacramento State a 3-1 lead before the Broncos eventually scored once in the sixth and two more in the seventh. Day finished 3-for-3 with two runs and the homer, and Hanson finished 2-for 4 with a run scored.

In the loss to UConn, Sacramento State used four pitchers, and although Alyssa Nunez (1-3) took the loss, she was by far the most effective pitcher the Hornets used in the circle. Nunez went four innings, allowing just one hit and two runs (both unearned). Danielle Sperry, Carley Morfey and Jensen Main also pitched in relief.

The Hornets, who never led in the game, had three players finish with multiple-hit games, including Hanson (2-for-4 with a run and two stolen bases), Mo Spieth (2-for-3 with a double, home run and three RBIs) and Rodriguez (2-for-3). Spieth drove in all three Hornet runs with a solo homer in the fourth and a two-run double in the sixth. That two-run double cut the UConn lead to 4-3, but the Huskies put things away with a five-run top half of the seventh.

Sacramento State will not play at home again until March 18. The team will play five times away from home next week, beginning on Tuesday at UC Davis at 2:30 p.m. Sacramento State will then play in the Wolf Pack Classic in Reno where it will play four times over three days (March 6-8).