SAN MARCOS, Calif. – The San Francisco State softball team took its first CCAA series of the 2018 season following a doubleheader split with the Cal State San Marcos Cougars on Saturday. The Gators dropped game one of the day 10-8 before wrapping up the day with a 9-5 win in game two.
 
Andrea Hildan led off game one with an infield single and moved to second on Hayley Nunes' sacrifice bunt. Michelle Castro came up and knocked a RBI double down the left field line to plate Hildan and give the Gators (4-5/3-1 CCAA) an early 1-0 lead. Two batters later, Katie Rohrer scored Castro on a single to left center to widen the lead.
 
With two down in the second, Madison Collins whacked a solo home run to center to go up 3-0. SF State added another in the fourth on Andrea Terrel's infield single that scored Torres. The Cougars (2-3/1-3 CCAA) bounced back to score two in the bottom half on Karla Bernal's two-run single. However the Gators rolled in the fifth, scoring three runs to go up 7-2. Nunes led off the rally with a triple and scored on Castro's double to center. After a Rohrer infield single, Mallory Cleveland hit a double to left-center to score Castro and advance Rohrer to third. Kylee Brown came up and plated Rohrer to cap off the three-run frame.
 
San Marcos cut it to three on two-out rally that scored a pair and brought the score to 7-4, and later knotted the score 7-7 in the sixth inning on a three-run home run to left-center off the bat of Janaea Mason. The Cougars then took their first lead of the game following Kat Calderon's triple that scored two, and added another insurance run to go up 10-7 in the top of the seventh.  
 
Rohrer led off the seventh with her second home run of the season, cutting the deficit to two, but the Gators couldn't find the offense to tie the score, resulting in the first loss of the series.
 
Game two saw the Gators take a 3-0 lead in the second. Higa led off with a single and made it to third following a Rohrer single and Cleveland walk. Terrel walked to send Higa home for the first run, and pinch hitter Savannah Ozuna knocked a two-run single to left to plate Rohrer and Cleveland.
 
SF State widened its lead in the third as Higa once again led off with a single and advanced to second on Rohrer's walk. Cleveland followed with a walk to load the bases, and Terrel plated pinch runner Torres on a fieldner's choice. Brown pinch hit and sent a double up the middle to score Rohrer and Cleveland to make it 6-0. Nunes added another three batters later on a single that scored Brown, giving the Gators a 7-0 lead going into the bottom half of the inning.
 
Sam Drucker struck out Alliya Machrone to end the third, with the Cougars stranding runners on the corners. Brown worked a bases-loaded walk in the fourth to make it 8-0. San Marcos got on the board to score two in the fifth to avoid the run rule.
 
The Gators added another in the sixth to go up 9-2 on Castro's fielder's choice that scored Collins. San Marcos battled back in the last inning, scoring three runs capped off my Fannin's double to right to make it 9-5. Karla Soto shut down the Cougars to get the final out and seal the victory.
 
Roher went 3-for-3 in game two with three runs scored for her fourth-straight multi hit performance. The Gators wrapped up the series scoring 36 runs on 45 hits, including three home runs.
 
Up Next
The Gators host their home opener on Feb. 16 for a doubleheader against Cal State San Bernardino that starts at noon. Live stats will be provided and in-game updates will be available on Twitter at @sfstate_sb.