SAN DIEGO – The UCSB softball team dropped a pair of games on Friday in the 20th Annual Campbell-Cartier Classic hosted by San Diego State.
The Gauchos have now lost five straight after opening the season 4-1.
UCSB lost its first game on Friday, 9-1, to No. 1 Washington and then dropped an afternoon contest to Penn State, 3-1. The Gauchos managed just seven hits in the two games.
In the opener, Washington jumped out to a 6-0 lead in the first three innings, scoring six runs on four hits against pitcher MeLinda Matsumoto in 2.0 innings and then adding three runs on five hits over the final 2.2 innings against the Gauchos Krista Cobb.
Sophomore Jamie Adishian knocked in the Gauchos’ only run with an RBI triple in the top of the fourth inning. Adishian’s hit scored Jessica Ziegler, who had singled. However, Washington scored once in the bottom of the fourth and ended the game with two runs in the fifth due to the NCAA mercy rule.
In the nightcap, UCSB had much more opportunities to defeat the Nittany Lions, leaving nine baserunners on. The Gauchos left runners on in all seven innings against Penn State and only capitalized on Keilani Jennings’ solo home run to lead off the sixth inning.
Cobb pitched well, allowing three runs on six hits through seven innings to go with three strikeouts. Penn State’s Danee Collett did all the damage vs. Cobb. She blasted a solo homer in the second inning, then had a bases-loaded double in the third, bringing in two more.
UCSB will play Utah State at 8 a.m. and follow it up against Western Kentucky on Saturday at 2:30 p.m.
The Gauchos return home on for the Gaucho Classic, a 12-game tournament beginning this Thursday at Campus Diamond.
