Softball Falls Short in Bronco Classic
Santa Clara goes 1-4 in first tournament of the season, drops to 2-7
Bo KendallTHE SANTA CLARAFebruary 25, 2016
[dropcap]O[/dropcap]n the heels of last year’s disappointing season, the Santa Clara softball team started its year at the bottom of the West Coast Conference Standings.
The team was only able to win one of its five games over the stretch. They dropped to 2-7 on the season after a second straight losing weekend.
The Broncos have not played a conference game yet this season, but currently sit at the bottom of the West Coast Conference standings based on their overall record.
Santa Clara faced a tough opponent in Cal State Fullerton and lost both of their games.
The Wolfpack boasts an overall record of 8-2 this season, and beat the Broncos with scores of 5-3 and 10-0.
Santa Clara also lost their single game against Seattle University 6-3.
The lone victory of the weekend came in a two-game series against Idaho State University.
The Broncos dropped the first game 5-8 against the Bengals on Friday night, but came back to win the second by a score of 13-7 on Saturday night.
The Broncos fell behind early, as the visiting Bengals scored all seven of their runs in the first two innings against sophomore pitcher McCall James, though only three were earned.
Sophomore Micaela Vierra came in as a reliever in the second inning, and delivered a shutout for the rest of the game.
Vierra, with an ERA of 2.01 and 19 strikeouts on the year, pitched 5.2 scoreless innings while giving up seven hits.
The hitting ability of senior infielder Casandra Padilla was a critical component for the Bronco victory.
Padilla, with a batting average of .414, was able to smack the only Santa Clara home run of the season so far.
The long ball came in the third inning, not long after the Bengals’ huge second inning, when they put up six runs.
The homer scored three RBI’s, pushing Padilla’s total for the game to five. After the third inning, Santa Clara found themselves ahead 10-7.
Despite having lost the first game of the series against Idaho State and giving up some runs early in the second game, the Broncos were resilient and earned the win.
“There are sometimes bad games but we learn from those bad games and adjust,” said Padilla. “That’s what we did, we adjusted and went in (to the second game) knowing we could beat them.”
“We made some adjustments to our lineup and kept our focus throughout the game as well as kept our intensity,” said Head Coach Lisa Mize.
Padilla is one of two seniors on the Broncos roster, and is a leader for the young team. She believes that her wealth of experience has a large part to do with her success so far this season. “Every situation that arises, every thought one of my teammates have had, I’ve had as well,” she said.
“Mistakes are going to happen, but it’s what you do next that matters the most.”
Next up for the Broncos is another full weekend of home games. Starting Feb. 26, and continuing through Feb. 28, Santa Clara will face the University of Nevada (8-2) twice University of Illinois at Chicago (4-6) twice and the University of Connecticut (3-4) once.
Contact Bo Kendall at bkendall@scu.edu or call (408) 554-4852.