Five UC Santa Barbara Gauchos waited until their last career regular season home game to achieve something they’ve never done before: mercy Cal Poly.
“I’ve been here for four years and I’ve never been part of anything like this,” said Lainey DePompa. “And to do it against Cal Poly on Senior Day makes it even more special.”
It was Senior Day on Sunday afternoon at Campus Diamond for DePompa, Allison Taylor, Brooke Putich, Jenny Liepman and Krista Cobb and their teammates honored their careers by sending them off with an emphatic 8-0 victory over their heated rivals. Krista Cobb – a senior who suffered a career-ending shoulder injury before the start of the season – started off the day’s celebrations by throwing out the ceremonial first pitch.
The Gauchos opened the scoring in the bottom of the second with a three-run home run from freshman third baseman Jenessa Jeppesen.
DePompa led off the inning with a bloop single into left field while a Cal Poly error on Shelby Wisdom’s attempted bunt also allowed UCSB’s starting pitcher to reach base. After a successful sacrifice bunt from sophomore Lauren Boser advanced the runners, Jeppesen stepped up to the plate and crushed a ball that cleared the opposing bullpen in neighboring Caesar Uyesaka Stadium.
They didn’t let up after the home run either. The Gauchos added one run each in the 4th and 5th innings before capitalizing on some sloppy defense from Cal Poly to score three runs in the bottom of the 6th to complete the 8-run mercy.
“We kept playing solid softball, got good pitching, good defense 13 hits in 6 innings that’ll put you in a good spot to win any ball game,” said head coach Brie Galicinao about her team’s effort. “We had some key bunts obviously and the home run by Vanessa… it helped us relax a little bit on defense but they just kept piling it on.”
Also dominating from start to finish was freshman starting pitcher Shelby Wisdom who threw a complete game, three-hit shutout for her 21st win of the season – giving the fans a glimpse into the future.
But Sunday’s game was to celebrate the past.
“They were my first recruiting class coming through here and just being able to see them from before they were here to now graduating,” Galicinao said. “I can’t believe it’s already
here but we have 3 games left and to send the seniors out with a 8-0 win against Cal Poly is a good way for them to go out.”
And for now, the future will have to wait at least one more weekend.
The series sweep over the weekend improved UCSB to 27-28 overall but more importantly, 12-6 in the Big West.
The Gauchos’ next series will be against Cal State
Northridge (10-38 overall, 5-12 in Big West) next weekend for a pivotal three game series.
