Assistant Sports Editor
It has been a long season for the CSU Bakersfield softball team, who ended the season by being swept at home by Utah Valley University. In the series before that, the Roadrunners managed to only take one game of a three game series against the last place University of Missouri – Kansas City.
In the first game of the series against UMKC, the Jackrabbits jumped out to an early 4-0 lead after two innings.
CSUB cut the lead in half in the top of the fourth, but UMKC doubled its lead to 8 and took the victory, 8-2.
In game two, both teams had troubles scoring early and the game was scoreless until the fifth when the Jackrabbits had two runs cross the plate. Two more would score in the sixth giving UMKC a 4-0 lead.
CSUB managed to score one in the top of the seventh but a comeback was cut short and the Roadrunners fell, 4-1.
The series finale, the Roadrunners bats came out swinging and they were connecting.
In the top of the second inning, CSUB scored 6 runs to take a 6-2 lead. It added four more runs and defeated the Jackrabbits, 10-6.
Utah Valley came into town on April 27 and stole game one away from the Roadrunners.
With a 7-4 lead going into the seventh inning, the Wolverines scored 4 in the top of the inning to take a 8-7 lead and the victory.
Game two was a low scoring affair. CSUB scored its lone run in the bottom of the first inning after a throwing error by the Utah Valley outfielder and sophomore Cydney Curran crossed homeplate.
The Wolverines scored one in the third and one in the fourth to take a 2-1 lead and the victory in game two.
“We didn’t put our foot on the gas. We’ve got to continue to put pressure on and put people on base,” said Head Coach Crissy Buck-Zielger.
In the regular season finale, UVU punished CSUB with the long ball. A two run home run in the first and solo home run in the second gave the Wolverines a 3-0 lead.
Utah Valley added three more runs in the fourth after two triples off the wall to expand the lead to 6-0.
CSUB threatened in the bottom of the fourth, but a controversial call at home plate only allowed the Roadrunners to plate one run. It scored one more in the fifth, but fell 7-2 in the final game of the regular season.
CSUB plays Wednesday, May 9 at 3 p.m. against the No. 4 seeded Grand Canyon University in the WAC tournament.
If CSUB wins, it would face the No. 1 seeded New Mexico State University on Thursday, May 10 at 9 a.m.
If CSUB loses, it would play the loser of Seattle University and UMKC on Thursday, May 10 at 3 p.m.
Photo by Ana Canales/ The Runner
