Santa Clara University women’s softball delivered a nail-biting 6-5 win over Oregon State to win game one of the three-game series on Thursday night. The Broncos held a 6-0 advantage midway through the contest and narrowly avoided a late-game collapse to hang onto the victory. The Broncos got off to a stellar start right from the jump as Taryn Clements ’27 delivered a two-run single in the bottom of the first to give the Broncos an early 2-0 lead. Then, the Broncos broke the game open in the bottom of the third as Clements came through again, rocketing a two-out triple to deep right-center field to score two more runs. Clements finished the contest going 2-3 with 4 RBI’s, her 2 hits tying a season high a season high. The Broncos continued the rally with a two-out single from Robynn Balmediano ’26 and an ensuing double from Leiora Davidson ’26 down the left field line. The Broncos’ lead expanded to 6-0, giving them a commanding advantage. After the fast start, the Broncos faced danger at the top of the fourth, as the Beavers quickly loaded the bases with just one out and scored a pair of runs off of Broncos pitcher Cari Ferguson ’28 to cut the deficit to 6-2. Oregon State continued its furious comeback the following inning with a two-run home run to cut the deficit to just two runs. The Broncos then found themselves in another precarious position with the bases loaded and two out. Ferguson continued to battle, walking a Beaver runner to give up another run, before closing the door with a much-needed strikeout. The Broncos’ lead stood at just 6-5, and it remained that way as the game reached the top of the 7th, with the Broncos searching for their final three outs. Ellison Schroeder ’29 closed the door for her second save of the season as the Broncos took the series opener to improve to 18-17 on the year, and 3-1 in the WCC. The Broncos followed Thursday’s victory with an 11-1 win over Oregon State in five innings on Friday, and then fell to the Beavers 4-0 on Saturday. The Broncos won the home series and will host Florida State next Wednesday, April 8th, at 6 p.m. 📝: @gsymkowick 📷: @ninaglickphoto

ST. LOUIS, Mo — Santa Clara University men’s basketball was defeated by the University of Kentucky 89-84 on Friday, March 20, in the first round of the NCAA Division I Men’s Basketball Tournament. The Broncos went into the break leading 31-29. The Broncos shut down the Wildcats throughout the period with stifling defense, forcing seven Kentucky turnovers and holding them to just three free throw attempts. Elijah Mahi ’26 led the first half with 10 points. The Wildcats came out of the half, firing with two three-pointers, and took their largest lead of the game at 51-44. After two threes by Mahi and Sash Gavalyugov ’29, the Broncos cut the deficit to just one. Gavalyugov was on fire in the second half and converted his third three-pointer shortly after to give the Broncos a 59-55 lead. He had 16 points, six rebounds and five assists in the game. After a run by the Wildcats, Graves, who came back to the game in the second half, continuously drove to the basket and got to the free-throw line. The game was tied at 68 with less than two minutes left in the game. Graves converted a crucial put-back on a Mahi airball as the shot clock was winding down to give the Broncos a 70-68 lead with 1:33 to play. Kentucky tied up the game at 70. With 10 seconds left in the game, Graves drilled a three-pointer with two seconds to go. The Wildcats made a game-tying three-pointer as the buzzer sounded to send the game to overtime. When asked about his end-of-game sequence, “I unequivocally called timeout, but they didn’t grant it. I think the video evidence is clear. And anybody’s able to pull it up, which is a likely response after Allen hits the three that the coach would be calling timeout to set the defense. Which I tried to do, and I was successful in doing, other than it wasn’t acknowledged or recognized,” said Sendek. Two three-point attempts by Gavalyugov were blocked by Kentucky’s Brandon Garrison. The Wildcats set the NCAA tournament record for most blocks in a game with 11 in the contest. The Broncos simply couldn’t recover, and their historic season came to an end. 📝: @aneeka.sideline & @gsymkowick 📷: @ninaglickphoto & Dylan Ryu