Cathedral City – UC Santa Barbara endured a tough ending to a gritty performance at the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic, losing to both Tennessee on Saturday night and Nevada on Sunday afternoon to split their tournament record at 2-2.
The No. 5 ranked Volunteers downed the Gauchos 5-0 with strong pitching from Ivy Renfoe (4-0), who notched her third complete-game shutout of the season. Renfoe tossed eight strikeouts and scattered only two hits.
Shelby Wisdom (7-4) took the loss for the Gauchos, allowing five runs (three earned) in the first five innings while striking out five. Adriana Collins pitched a scoreless sixth inning in relief.
UCSB struggled to put the bat on the ball in the second game against Nevada as well, who defeated the Gauchos 7-1 in the final game of the tournament.
The matchup was a pitcher’s duel for the first four innings between Collins and Wolfpack starter Karlyn Jones, as the two sides were held scoreless. Nevada broke things open in the fifth inning, however, putting together a six-run rally that would eventually carry them to their third victory of the tournament.
Soria—who was one of two Gauchos to reach base against Tennessee in the game prior—provided UCSB with their lone run of the game in the bottom of the sixth.
After starting it off with a single to shortstop, Wisdom doubled to center to advance Soria to third, who eventually crossed the plate on a sacrifice fly from Keilani Jennings.
Jones gave up one run on four hits while walking one and striking out six for the Wolfpack. She improved to 4-3 on the year with the victory. Wisdom pitched three innings of relief for the Gauchos, issuing two hits and two strikeouts.
UCSB’s next challenger comes next Friday at home against Seattle in the first game on the Gaucho Classic II, where they look to improve on an impressive 9-5 start to the season.
