TEMPE, Ariz. – UCSB (0-3) suffered a pair of tough losses on Friday, the second day of Arizona State’s Kajikawa Classic. The Gauchos went into extra innings with Bradley (1-0) before falling, 2-1, and then suffered a mercy rule loss to No. 11 Oregon (1-0) in their following game, 10-2.
After being limited to just one hit in their season-opener with No. 9 Tennessee on Thursday afternoon, the Gaucho bats came alive on Friday as UCSB tallied five hits against the Braves and a season-high 10 against the Ducks.
Junior Keilani Jennings had a standout day at the plate going 4-for-6 with a home run, a double and two RBI. Freshman Shelby Wisdom (0-1) went 4-for-5 between the two games while also tossing all eight innings against Bradley. She allowed two runs – just one earned – off of six hits while walking six and striking out 10.
In the day’s first game against the Braves, Jennings broke a scoreless tie at the bottom of the second inning with a leadoff home run to right field. With the round trip, she moves into a tie for eighth all-time on the UCSB career home runs list (16).
Bradley was able to tie the game at one apiece at the top of the next inning when Bailigh Basham drew a bases-loaded walk with two outs, sending Mariah Cole home from third.
The game was still deadlocked after seven, forcing extra innings. In accordance to the international tiebreaker rule, Basham was placed on second base and was able to advance on an interference call. Shannon King drew a walk to put runners on the corners before Wisdom struck out the next two batters swinging.
On the next play, King made a move to steal second but was forced back to first and Basham was able to steal home – for what proved to be the game-winning run – during the throw to first. Wisdom struck out the final Bradley batter swinging to end the inning.
Bradley pitcher Madeline Lynch-Crumrine (1-0) retired the next three batters in order to seal the 2-1 win for the Braves. The hurler allowed just one earned run on five hits. She struck out three and walked one.
Wisdom and junior Jessica Soria each had a pair of hits in the loss. The former went 2-for-2 with a walk while the latter went 2-for-4.
During the morning’s second game, UCSB jumped on Oregon early, scoring a pair of runs at the top of the first inning.
With one out, senior Brooke Putich drew a walk, which was followed by a base hit to center field by Wisdom. Jennings followed with a rocket shot to right field, which drove Putich home and allowed Wisdom to move to third. One out later, freshman DeJanee Moore hit a single to left center field, scoring Wisdom and giving UCSB an early 2-0 lead.
The Ducks battled back at the bottom of the same inning when Kelsey Chambers hit a two-run homer to center field, which was followed by a solo home run by Kailee Cuico.
Chambers helped push the Oregon lead to 5-2 when she hit a two-RBI double at the bottom of the second and then scored on a wild pitch during the next play.
At the bottom of the fourth, the Ducks loaded the bases with two outs, setting the table for Kaylan Howard, who hit a grand slam to push the Oregon advantage to 10-2.
Wisdom singled and Jennings hit a double with one out in the bottom of the fifth, but the next two Gaucho batters went down in order allowing Oregon to cut the game short at five innings in accordance with the mercy rule.
Sophomore Andriana Collins (0-2) tossed four innings, allowing 10 earned runs on 11 hits with one walk and one strikeout.
At the plate, Jennings went 3-for-3 with an RBI and her 20th career double, which puts her within one of cracking the UCSB career top-10. Wisdom went 2-for-3 with a run.
Fort he Ducks, Jessica Moore (1-0) got the win after tossing four innings and allowing two earned runs on eight hits with one walk and two strikeouts.
UCSB will continue action at the Kajikawa Classic on Saturday against BYU at 3 p.m. and will then face Utah at 7:30 p.m.
