Cal Poly softball lost two of three games against Cal State Fullerton at Bob Janssen Field last weekend in their last home series of the year.
The Mustangs’ (24-23, 8-10) only win came during senior day when they defeated the Titans (31-22,16-2) and prevented them from securing the Big West Conference Title. The game was a shutout, courtesy of senior right-hander Lindsey Chalmers.
Saturday morning
After several scoreless innings, the Titans found themselves in scoring position multiple times.
With two outs in the top of the fourth inning, and runners on second and third base, Titans’ shortstop Shianne Brannan smashed a ball to deep left field but freshman left fielder Noellah Ramos snagged an over-the-shoulder catch at the wall to keep the game scoreless.
Later, with the bases loaded in the sixth inning and only one out, Titans’ catcher Julia Valenzuela blasted a triple to deep right field which brought in three runners and gave the Titans a 3-0 lead.
On the ensuing at-bat, Chalmers struck out left fielder Sammie Vandiver to end the inning for her third strikeout of the game. However, the Mustangs weren’t able to get any runners in scoring position in the last two innings and lost the first game of the series 3-0.
Saturday afternoon
In the second game of the doubleheader, Cal State Fullerton secured the series win over the Mustangs by winning 4-0.
The Titans struck first in the top of the second inning when a throwing error after Fullerton’s sacrifice bunt allowed a second runner to reach home, giving them a 2-0 lead.
The Titans’ run continued in the top of the fifth inning when outfielder Ari Williams singled to right field to bring in Valenzuela for a 3-0 lead. They grabbed more insurance runs in the sixth inning when pinch hitter Mikaela Francis hit a pop-fly to left field that allowed a runner to make it home from third base.
Cal Poly’s struggles to get on base continued in this matchup as they only earned three hits and had no runners in scoring position against Fullerton’s right-hander Trish Parks.
Sunday morning
Cal Poly responded after two shutout losses to the Titans with one of their own by defeating Cal State Fullerton 3-0 on senior day.
At the bottom of the first inning, junior catcher Makenna Young hit a ground ball to the left infield, but a throwing error by the Titans allowed Young to reach first base and senior shortstop Chelsea Convissar to score for the Mustangs’ first run of the series.
The Mustangs added more runs in the third inning when senior third baseman Stephanie Heyward and sophomore right-hander Shelby Jeffries each hit RBI singles to take a 3-0 lead.
With the hit, Heyward surpassed Roni Sparrey (2001-04) for third place on the all-time hits list with 204.
After Chalmers struck out Francis in the seventh inning, the Titans got in scoring position with runners on third and first, but a groundout to third base secured the complete game shutout and the senior day win.
“These seniors are amazing,” head coach Jenny Condon said. “They’ve really changed the culture here. They’ve came in and worked super hard not only for themselves, but they’ve also mentored the underclassmen and really taught them how we wanna play and how we want to represent ourselves, and they’ll definitely be missed.”
Cal Poly’s softball program will finish their regular season with an away series against UC Santa Barbara starting Friday at 3 p.m.