SACRAMENTO --
Katie Marsh had a pair of homers, and
Andrea Lira had two doubles and a home run to lead Sacramento State to a 9-1 victory over Pacific on Wednesday afternoon at Shea Stadium.
The regular season finale ended in the bottom of the fifth (mercy rule) after senior
Gwen Ludwig singled home
Faith Epperson from third base with two outs. More than just a win, the walkoff carried plenty of meaning as the at-bat for Ludwig was the final home plate appearance of the senior's career.
With three more home runs today, the Hornets have now homered 15 times in the last four games after hitting 12 in a three-game sweep at Montana over the weekend. Sacramento State increased its program single-season record to 63 home runs.
Sacramento State has won four straight and 13 of the last 17 games, and will head into next week's Big Sky Conference Tournament playing its best softball of the season. The Hornets moved their record to 26-21, and will begin the double-elimination Big Sky Conference Tournament on Tuesday in Greeley, Colo. As the No. 2 seed, Sacramento State will receive a first round bye and play its first game on Tuesday against an opponent TBD at 5:30 p.m. PT.
Marsh had a pair of two-run homers in the first and fourth innings, as both blasts were to the opposite field. She now has eight home runs this season. Lira went 3-for-3 with two doubles, a homer and an RBI. Both doubles hit off the wall on the fly as the junior was not far off hitting three home runs. She lifted her season homer total to nine.
The duo of Marsh and Lira (Nos. 2-3 hitters) combined to go 5-for-5 with five runs, a walk, two doubles, three home runs and five RBIs.
That was more than enough run support for starter
Danyelle Leone, who allowed just six hits and one run with a pair of strikeouts over five innings. The right-hander needed just 74 pitches to notch her second complete game of the season.
Seven different Hornets had hits in the team's 10-hit attack.
Lafulafu Malepeai,
Alexa Carino and Epperson each had a hit and run scored, while both Ludwig and
Shannon Garcia had a hit and an RBI.