The CSUN softball team split its four games this weekend, sweeping a doubleheader with the University of North Dakota on Friday at Matador Diamond, but losing both its games in the Long Beach State Invitational on Sunday.
Northridge needed only five innings to assert themselves in game one against North Dakota State, winning by a score of 8-0. Northridge was dominant on both ends of the field. On offense, the Matadors scored at least one run in all but the fourth inning. Junior catcher Amanda Peek hit a two-run home run in the third inning and drove in a total of three runs. Freshman right fielder Alexandria Alvarado and sophomore Amanda Pitzenberger drove in two runs apiece.
“We played well as a whole,” Peek said.
On the other side of the ball, senior pitcher Mercedes Lovato went all five innings without allowing a hit for her second career no-hitter. The Matador defense was also good, as it did not commit an error the entire game.
Game two required the full seven innings, and the Matadors got off to a rough start, allowing two runs in the first inning, the first one unearned, but CSUN got back on track. With two outs and senior center fielder Jackie Duree on first, Peek sent a pitch from sophomore Michele Wolf over the left-center field fence for a two-run home run to tie the game.
Northridge wasn’t done yet. Sophomore first baseman Jaclyn Rymer singled to left and junior second baseman Micah Putnam doubled to right to score Rymer to give the Matadors the lead. CSUN then put the game away with a four-run fifth inning and a three-run sixth.
“Every single person on our team was attacking every time we were at bat and on the field,” Lovato said. “It was just crisp and clean and it was nice to see.”
Peek and Rymer both drove in two runs and Lovato came in as a reliever in the second inning and kept the Fighting Sioux in check.
The tables turned in a for Northridge when they went down to Long Beach for the Long Beach State Invitational. The Matadors lost their first game to Notre Dame 3-1, then lost to 22nd-ranked Virginia Tech 7-1.
CSUN returns to action this Thursday, as the team travels to Westwood to face the second-ranked UCLA Bruins at 1 p.m.
