“The greatest equalizer is a new day.”
Head coach Chelsea Spencer likes to remind her team of that, and it’s a theme that has yet to be broken for better or worse through Cal softball’s first three weekends of action.
After falling to Sacramento State in its season opener, Cal rallied for a come-from-behind walk-off win against Saint Mary’s the next day. Likewise, the Bears’ close loss to their South Bay rivals Feb. 26 made its dominant, redemptive victory over the Cardinal Feb. 27 all the sweeter.
Back at Stanford’s Boyd and Jill Smith Family Stadium for the DeMarini Invitational, the blue and gold followed a similar trajectory; following a heartbreaking, extra-inning loss against BYU on Thursday, Cal regrouped to close out the weekend with a pair of wins over UCSB.
Cal earns wins over Cal Baptist, splits pair against Cardinal at Stanford Invitational
Brian Bi/File
Grand slams, collegiate debuts, cross-town rival redemption this past weekend had it all.
Hoping to capitalize on the momentum from last Sunday’s electrifying come-from-behind, walk-off victory into the South Bay, the Bears brought their bats and were dominant on the mound, leaving the weekend with three wins and a loss.
In its 7-4 win over Cal Baptist on Friday afternoon, Cal picked up where it left off with two runs in the top of the first. Mikayla Coelho hit a leadoff single and eventually found third, after a wild pitch from Lancer pitcher Giana Lopez and groundout from Makena Smith. Lauren Espalin then put the ball in play to reach base on an error by Cal Baptist’s third baseman, bringing Coelho in to score and give Cal a 1-0 advantage. A two-out infield single courtesy of Kacey Zobac brought Espalin home, putting the Bears up 2-0.
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Back on the dirt: Spring season remains in a logistical limbo
Karen Chow/Senior Staff
Growing up, senior catcher Lauren Espalin had games postponed due to rain, parent-umpire scuffles, and bee swarms these delays, of course, only affecting a game or two at a time. Never would she have expected a global pandemic to tack itself onto that list, let alone prompt the cancellation of almost an entire season.
It’s been almost a year since Espalin and her teammates have seen the dirt for a scored matchup. The Bears were coming off a weekend of mixed results at the James Madison University Dukes Invitational, eager to host then-No. 9 Oregon for a series that would have kicked off conference play. But instead of knotting up their cleats to duel with a Pac-12 powerhouse, the players found their stomachs in knots as they were dealt the same somber news received by the rest of their spring sport counterparts: Their season was suspended until further notice.