The 2024 season will mark 50 years of Arizona softball. It will also mark the final year of the Wildcats’ tenure in the conference that put the sport on the map as eight of the nine schools that.
“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.