Davis--The UC Riverside Softball team won both games of the Big West double header Saturday at UC Davis.
The Highlanders scored four runs in the first inning en route to a, 7-2, win in game one. In the second game of the day, H
annah Rodriguez hit her second homerun of the day and Anessa Cepeda tossed a complete game four-hit shutout in a, 3-0, win over the Aggies.
UC Riverside 7, UC Davis 2
The Highlanders wasted no time getting on the board in the first game of the day at La Rue stadium. Natalie Sanchez doubled to right field, scoring Haley Harris for the first run of the game. With two outs, Chelsey Holley singled up the middle, then Courtnie Ploesch brought Sanchez in with a singled to right field, while Holley moved over to third. Stephanie Tickemyer came to plate and hit a 3-2 offering into right field for a triple, scoring Ploesch and Holley to make it a four-run lead before the home team stepped in the batter's box.
Tayler Misfeldt did not allow a hit in the bottom of the first, but walked in a run. The Aggies drew four walks in the inning. In the top of the second, freshman Hannah Rodriguez drove a 3-2 pitch of the left field fence for her first homerun as a Highlander.
UC Davis would respond the bottom of the second, as they got single followed by a run scoring double to close the gap.
Misfeldt (19-10) would settle in and keep the Aggies scoreless over the final four innings the game to secure the 7-2 victory.
UC Riverside 3, UC Davis 0
In the second game of the day, freshman Anessa Cepeda got her third start of the season and tossed her second complete shutout in as many starts.
Both teams were scoreless until the top of fourth inning. Curtan singled to center field with one out, followed by a Holley single. The UCR base runners moved up a base, thanks to a wild pitch that put them on second and third. With the count 2-1, Ploesch laid down a squeeze bunt that scored Curtan speeding home from third for the first run of the game.
To lead off the top of the second, Rodriguez drove the first pitch she saw over the fence in left for the second time on the day. The Highlanders would tack on an insurance run in the sixth, when Rodriguez knocked in Tickemyer with a single to left.
The three-run cushion was more than enough for Cepeda (2-0), who allowed just one hit over the final three innings, a lead-off single in the bottom of the seventh.
With today's victories, the Highlanders moved over .500 (30-14-1, 6-5) in Big West play for the first time this season. Sunday's series finale is slated for 1 pm.
