In a Sunday tripleheader to open their home schedule, the CSUN softball team (5-9) swept Michigan State (3-9). The Matadors hitting looked to be in sync during the series, which started off with a 6-5-comeback victory. For all three games the Matador offense had 29 hits, including two homeruns and 16 runs.

“We kind of struggled in the beginning (of the season),” CSUN head coach Roni Sparrey said. “Now we are picking up speed and kind of putting it all together with our pitching and hitters.”

The Matadors pitching came through against the Spartans, giving up only 17 hits, nine runs and recording15 strikeouts.

“We all worked together to get these wins,” said sophomore pitcher Hannah Fraijo, who had two wins in the series. “It’s good to have a good hitting team and a good defense behind you. It makes pitching a lot easier.”

Game 1

CSUN came back from a 5-1 deficit in the last two innings of play with five runs in its first game against Michigan State to win 6-5.

With the game tied and bases loaded CSUN’s Lauren Olivas walked in, scoring the winning run. Amanda Pitzenberger pitched a complete game and allowed six hits and three earned runs.

Michigan had a 2-0 lead going into Sunday’s game, after rain stop the game Saturday. The Spartans added three more runs by the end of five innings.

Game 2
The Matadors came out with eight hits and six runs in the first two innings to give them a 6-1 win over the Spartans. CSUN started the scoring in the first inning with two runs when Olivas and Alexandria Alvarado scored on errors. In the second inning the Matadors combined for six hits and added four more runs. Fraijo (2-3) pitched a complete game and had seven strikeouts.

Michigan’s only run came in the sixth inning when Jenny Ramsaier reached base on an error and then scored.

Game 3
In their last game CSUN’s Christina Seanz hit a home run (second of the series) in the second inning and added two more runs with bases loaded for a 3-2 lead. In the fifth the Matadors scored another run on an illegal pitch by Spartan pitcher Kelly Confer to give them a 4-3 win.

Michigan State jump to an early 2-0 lead against CSUN pitcher Debbie Duran, Fraijo came in at the second inning to finish the game. Lindsey Hansen kept Michigan in the game after hitting a home run over the left field fence in the third to tie the game 3-3, but that would be it for them.

“It was better that it was a collective team effort this time,” Sparrey said. “Everyone got the job done and made it happen for us.”