Box Score 1 | Box Score 2 San Francisco – The SF State softball team battled wet and rainy conditions, delaying the start of game one over an hour, in the end the wait was worth it as the Gators took both halves of Friday's CCAA doubleheader against visiting Sonoma State, the sixth ranked team in the region.  Taking game one 3-2 before winning a thrilling nightcap 13-8. 

"Our offense came to play today, it was nice to get those clutch hits," said head coach Cristina Byrne.  "First game Jennifer Lewis and Lucy Fernandez came up clutch for us scoring those runs.  In the second game the hits just kept coming.  It was really nice to see us string a lot of hits together, we didn't get down, and we chased two pitchers out of the game.  Our pitching staff did a nice job today.  Megan Clark did a great job in the first game dealing with the rain and dealing with the weather conditions, she was spot on again.  In game two Jenny Obbema was pitching really well and their hitter just hit a good pitch.  I thought we did a good job pitching around them, they hit some good pitches.  Overall I was really happy with the offense coming out; the middle of our lineup was just red hot."

With consistent rain all morning, Friday's games looked to be in jeopardy of not happening.  The Gators (19-34/10-24 CCAA) and Seawolves (33-19/17-17 CCAA) ultimately decided to delay the start of game one an hour and a half letting the worst of the rainy conditions pass.

When the lineups were finally exchanged game one featured an excellent pitching matchup between Megan Clark and Sonoma State's ace Amanda Llerena.  The two pitchers traded zeroes in the first two innings, with Clark showing good strike out stuff early, tallying four strike outs in the first three innings. 

The Gators offense scored first, scoring three in the bottom of the third inning.  The winning rally started with back to back walks by Courtney Gravel and Selina Rodriguez.  Jennifer Lewis lit up the scoreboard with a one-out double to right center on the first pitch she saw scoring Gravel from second base.  Lucy Fernandez followed that up with a base hit to right field that scored Rodriguez, Lewis scored from second on the error by the right fielder.

The three runs were all the Gators would score on Llerena (20-11) who limited the Gators offense to three hits, three runs, two earned with four walks and eight strike outs in six innings. 

Sonoma State finally got on the board in the top half of the fourth inning.  An error by Fernandez allowed the leadoff hitter Amanda Rossetta to reach, a pinch runner for Rossetta moved to second on a bunt by Holli Brown.  Both runners advanced on a sacrifice bunt, putting runners at second and third with one out.  A single through the left side and an infield single plated two runs. With two outs the Seawolves loaded the bases but the Gators escaped the jam.

Clark (9-12) earned her ninth win of the season, going the distance, scattering four hits, two runs, one earned with a pair of walks and five strike outs.  After the fourth inning Clark only allowed one batter to reach the rest of the way, a leadoff walk in the sixth inning, which was quickly erased when Tori Bellin threw a dart to Gravel to erase the runner attempting to steal second.

In the nightcap it was as if the two teams were playing on a complete different day.  The sun came out between games one and two and so did the offense.  Both the Gators and Seawolves combined to score 21 runs on 27 hits.

The Gators offense alone was responsible for 13 of those runs and 15 of those hits, both numbers season-highs for SF State.  Every starter for the Gators recorded at least one hit, with the 2-5 hitters all collecting multiple hits.  Leading the charge was senior second baseman Kelsey Murakami who went 3-for-4 with a pair of runs scored and two runs driven in.

Like in the previous game, the Gators jumped out front first, this time scoring a pair of runs on a two out double to left center by Murakami.  The clutch hit very nearly got out as the 5-1 Murakami put everything she had into the swing.

Starter Jenny Obbema looked very sharp early, needing just eight pitches to get through the first and nine to get through the second.

In the top of the third inning however things unraveled for Obbema.  An infield single, a walk and a single through the left side loaded the bases for the Seawolves with no outs.  SSU third baseman Hayley Condon scored Sonoma State's first run of the game with a base hit up the middle scoring Aubrie Tolliver.  Up next was center fielder Megan Konieczka who blasted a change up at her shins over the center field fence for her 15^th home run of the season, and put the Seawolves out front 5-0, ending the day for Obbema. 

Courtney Dunkel came in on relief and got the final three outs, while surrendering a run as the Seawolves led 6-2 after three.  Obbema's line: two innings pitched, five hits, five runs, all earned with a walk. 

The Gators were held scoreless by starter Melissa Smith for two innings before exploding in the bottom of the fourth.  The Gators roughed up Smith and relief pitcher Katy Bihl for eight runs on eight hits to retake the lead for good.

Clark started the hit parade with a single up the middle, Lyndsi Garcia walked and Chelsea Brent laid down a perfect bunt to load the bases for Rodriguez who slapped a double down the left field line scoring a pair.  Lewis followed that up with a base hit up the middle that scored two more and like that it was tied at six.  Lewis scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch by Bihl, the Gators eventually plated three more runs as they batted through the order in the fourth.

SF State added three insurance runs in the fifth, but the 13 runs would be more than enough for Dunkel who pitched effectively in relief, getting her third win of the season, going five innings, scattering seven hits, three runs, all earned with a walk and two strike outs.

The Gators and Seawolves will resume the series tomorrow with the Gators going for the sweep.  Saturday's doubleheader will be the 2014 finale and the Gators will say their farewell to seniors Kelsey Murakami and Kylie Grabowski in a pre-game ceremony, first pitch for game one is slated for noon.

Complete Box Score Game 1 (HTML)

Complete Box Score Game 2 (HTML)