Both teams are starving for victories in conference. Cal is in last place with one win while Stanford and Utah each possess two.

The Utes have the same two pitchers that they have had the last three seasons: seniors Viramontes & Donovan. Viramontes has a no hitter after four frames against Cal. She is keeping the ball down, featuring a drop, a curve,
a screwball & a change-up. The Bears have only hit one ball in the air.

The Bears Kamalani Dung has matched four zeros using fastballs. She throws rise balls predominantly. She just retired Utah in the top of the 4th on three fly balls. This is the second time through the batting order and the batters are looking for the rise.

Viramontes has struckout 8 while Dung has fanned five through four scoreless innings. Cal has benched Mickey Coelho who led the team in every hitting stat entering Pac Nine play. The Bears were starting four freshmen but now are only playing two [Kondo & Sparacino]. Sparacino was previously benched for a series but has returned to action. Needless to say, the Cal frosh are struggling bigtime with conference pitching.

During the B5th, Cal scored five runs on three singles plus three free passes (walk & two hit batsmen). Marcella Kay had the only hard hit ball, a clean single to right field to break-up the no-hitter. Then everything fell a part for Viramontes. Utah commited a throwing error at home plate, too.Tough luck.

Dung walked two and yielded a towering home run to LF to senior Heather Bowen in the top of the sixth with one out and appropriately got yanked. The score is suddenly Bears 5, Utes 3. Hopefully Zoe Conley can throw strikes. She did by-in-large and Bears triumphed for their second P12 win.

Katie Donovan pitched to five batters and Cal hit three solidly struck fly balls. I would imagine that she will start one of the remaining two contests and the Bears should be able to score some runs (I hope) against her. Her ERA is 3.40 this season.

I still ponder who has the worst hitting: Cal softball or the SF Giants. The pro baseball team has scored 0 or 1
run in 10 of their 18 games this season and sits at the bottom of their division. The Bears only registered one single out of the infield against a two-win team today through six innings. Cal has faced Viramontes for four consecutive seasons and should have a in-depth scouting report on her pitching style. The Cal hitters looked like they had never seen her before as she fanned 8 of the first 12 outs this afternoon. Boy-does the blue 'n gold NEED a batting instructor to give these hitters a gameplan coming into each at bat. I'm guessing that I have presented a better scouting report here than the Ninemire coaching staff. Don't mean to be cynical but
-if one watched the Cal hitters vs Viramontes through four innings today-it's blatantly obvious that the Bear hitters were clueless.

GO BEARS!

Beautiful day. Big 5th inning and some drama at the end due to utah's home run

Kamalani Played well until that last inning when she probably tired

Jazz made the nicest play of the game and Cal wins!

Saw Vic Enwere who was there for last couple innings. One of my fav players and the player I see at other sports more than anyone

So happy for the team. For the most part, the pitching looked great between Kama and Zoe. However, let's not kid ourselves- the offense still looked atrocious. What exactly is the offensive game plan for our hitters? We looked continuously lost but thankfully had some luck come our way in the 5th.

I'm hoping we start making solid contact and sweep the rest of the series. We want all of the momentum going into the Battle of the Bay #beatthefurd

Cal boots two (JJ & Rood) in top of 1st to spot Utah a 1-0 lead behind Zoe Conley. Bears are NOT facing Katie Donovan this afternoon. Hayley Hilburn (2.96 ERA) is starting and has the best ERA on the staff. Bears achieved four singles and a walk in the B1st but managed only two runs. Two singles were infield and two to the outfield. Bradie Fillmore struckout as did Karlie Sparacino. Taurie Pogue grounded out with the bases loaded to end the threat.

Both pitchers settle down until the bottom of the fifth...Cal rallies for five runs on five hits to break the game open (7-1). Bear batters registered two singles, two doubles (JJ & Kondo) & a huge triple by Lauren Espalin. The frosh catcher from Orange Lutheran HS was the offensive MVP of the game with four RBIs! Zoe closes out Utah with
a complete game. Cal busts out offensively with 7 runs on 11 hits. The only weakness was three infield errors behind Conley.

Let's get the sweep tomorrow! GO BEARS!

Great sweep for the bears. We've now moved into sole possession of 7th place, ahead of Utah and Stanford. Hoping for a second sweep next weekend against the Furd. Go Bears!

What a weekend
Bears make a move!

Cal (29-13) has five more winnable games remaining this season before they finish the season against #1 UCLA & #3 Oregon at home. Those games will be difficult. If the Bears can take the Stanford series in Palo Alto plus capture the mid-week OOC games-they will be 34-13 or 33-14 heading into the gauntlet in Berkeley in early May.

http://calbears.com/documents/2017/2/26/Cumulative_Stats_as_of_Feb_26.pdf?path=softball

Cal's ERA has risen into the 2+ area now while the offensive has continued to slide in conference. Ninemire & Co
needs to remember that Stanford defeated UCLA one game in Los Angeles. Oregon is also not unbeatable. Their hitting is down this year compared to recent seasons. For example, Oregon State upset Oregon. Utah's two Pac Nine wins came against Stanford in Salt Lake City. Stanford's two victories were versus Utah & UCLA on the road. Stanford has lost seven consecutive games. Oregon State crushed Stanford in Palo Alto by a comined three-game score of 20-3. The Bears were competitive vs the Beavers in Corvallis, outscoring 'em 20-19 while losing the series two games to one. GO BEARS!