UC Riverside softball player #19, Jenna Curtan, swings at the curveball pitched by opponent team California State University of Northridge
UC Riverside softball player #19, Jenna Curtan, swings at the curveball pitched by opponent team California State University of Northridge

UC Riverside softball only has six games remaining on their schedule and dropped two games this weekend to conference opponent, CSU Northridge, in the Highlanders’ final home series of the year.

The series kicked off with a doubleheader on Saturday, April 30 and UCR was on the wrong end of a blowout in the first slate, falling 11-1. The game saw UCR get on board first after Jenae Lockwood’s double brought home Stephanie Tickemyer in the bottom of the second. UCR held their 1-0 lead into the top of the fifth until a Daphne Pofek home run tied it up and set forth a CSUN onslaught for the remaining innings.

It was the seventh inning when the Matadors’ offense got going as, with the score at 3-1, the team managed eight total runs, highlighted by a two-run homer from Savannah Horvath and a three-run shot from Tara Kliebenstein. This pushed the score to 11-1 and far out of reach for the Highlanders, whose comeback efforts in the bottom of the seventh were short-lived.

While the Highlanders proved much more competitive in the second half of the doubleheader, the end result was the same, as they fell 3-2 in suspenseful fashion. The Matadors managed to get on the board in the top of the first as a throwing error by UCR’s Taylor Misfeldt allowed Taylor Glover to make it home from second.

In what was a pitching duel between starters Misfeldt and CSUN’s Daphne Pofek, the Highlanders took until the bottom of the fourth to get on the board courtesy of Jenna Curtan who made home from third on a wild pitch. CSUN answered at the top of the seventh, scoring two runs to take the 3-1 lead and put the pressure square on the shoulders of UCR.

The Highlanders responded with a run in their side of the seventh as Courtnie Ploesch scored on a Lockwood single to cut the deficit to one. With a runner on first, the Highlanders’ Hannah Rodriguez (who has three walk-off hits on the year) stepped to the plate and made contact with the first pitch she saw. The result? A grounder to third and subsequent 5-4-3 double play to end the game and seal another Matador win.

The team followed these two losses with another defeat, falling 0-2 to the Matadors. In what was their final game at home this season, UCR honored seniors Erika Campbell, Courtnie Ploesch and Natalie Sanchez before the game. The Highlanders now sit at fourth in the Big West with a 7-8 conference record and 31-17 record overall. They will continue play with a three-game road series against Long Beach State beginning Saturday, May 7 through Sunday, May 8.