Sonoma State Star

Issue date: 3/11/08 Section: Sports

The Seawolves softball team was shut down this past weekend when they were swept by in-conference foe and 19th ranked UCSD. The bats were dormant for the Seawolves, accumulating only 20 hits in the four game weekend in San Diego. [Click to enlarge]

During their rendezvous in San Diego on March 7 and 8, the Sonoma State Softball team played in two doubleheaders against number 19 UC San Diego Tritons. The games against the nationally ranked in conference foe were sure to be a daunting task for the Seawolves who entered the weekend with an in-conference record of 1-5.

The Seawolves headed into the weekend confident, but aware of the opposition's talent. "Our conference is the toughest D-II conference around," said sophomore pitcher Simone Brandalise. "There will never be an easy weekend. We had it in us, we just had to find it and use it to our advantage."

In their first game against the Tritons, UCSD came out on top early in the game by scoring five runs in the second inning, capitalizing on two SSU defensive miscues. In the sixth the Seawolves were still down 6-0 when they got on the scoreboard after a triple by junior Dani Lopez scoring Caitlin Lavezzo.

The score wouldn't change as the Seawolves ended the game losing 6-1.

In game two of the series, the Tritons again pulled ahead early by scoring a run in the first inning and knocked in two more runs in the fifth and sixth innings as well. Triton pitching was too much for the Seawolves, tallying only one hit in the game before losing 3-0. Brandalise pitched for the Seawolves giving up seven hits within six innings.

"Our team has suffered some major setbacks early this season with injured players, so we're not going to be going into the season with the original crew," said senior co-captain Shyrle Hawes. "We've got players playing out of position so we've all had to do some readjusting."

On the second day of the series, the Seawolves hopes were dashed yet again in game one with their lack of offensive production being the main problem.

Continued...

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