Cal State Fullerton

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The Cal State Fullerton softball team split its doubleheader at UC Santa Barbara on Friday, falling 8-0 in five innings in the series opener, before evening the series with a 7-6 comeback win. The regular-season champion Titans moved to 36-13 overall and 23-3 in Big West play, outperforming last year's conference record of 22-5. 

UC Santa Barbara 8, Cal State Fullerton 0 (5 innings)

The Titans dropped the series opener, marking their first loss in Big West play since March 29 at UC Davis. 

UC Santa Barbara jumped to a 5-0 lead over the Titans in the bottom of the third inning with a two-run single and a three-run home run to left field. 

Trisha McCleskey went on to pitch four innings, allowing five runs on six hits with two errors before freshman Hana Winton entered in relief. Winton found the first out of the inning but allowed all three inherited runners to score. 

Back-to-back singles to opposite fields loaded the bases and extended UC Santa Barbara's lead to 7-0. An RBI single in the fifth sealed the shutout victory. Overall, McCleskey (16-9) was charged with eight runs, three earned, on six hits with two strikeouts and three walks. 

Cal State Fullerton 7, UC Santa Barbara 6

UC Santa Barbara took a 2-0 lead in the first with a solo home run to left field and an RBI walk. 

The Titans responded with five runs on five hits. Alexia Lopez opened the inning with a double to center, while Ava Arce and Maggie Paulovich drove in runners with singles to tie the game.

Annika Sogsti moved both runners into scoring position before Sophia Newcomb sent a ball up the middle to score Micayla Turi, who entered to run for Arce, for a 3-2 lead. Annika Sogsti advanced both runners before Sophia Newcomb drove in Micayla Turi, who pinch ran for Arce, to give the Titans a 3-2 advantage.

Sarah Perez (2-for-3, 2 RBI) used an infield single to second base to drive in two runs for a 5-2 lead. UC Santa Barbara then evened the game at 5-5 in the bottom of the fifth with a three-run triple. 

Newcomb (2-for-2, R, 3 RBI) retook a 7-5 lead for the Titans in the top of the sixth with a two-run single to right field that scored Paulovich and Kate Verhoef. 

The Gauchos loaded the bases in the bottom of the sixth before Eva Hurtado walked in a run to cut Fullerton's lead to 7-6. Hurtado got herself out of the inning with a groundout right back to the pitcher's circle. 

Hurtado (14-4) pitched her fifth complete game of the season, allowing six runs on nine hits with seven walks and five strikeouts over seven innings. 

The Titans are scheduled to close out the regular season against the Gauchos on Saturday at 1 p.m. 

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WATCH THE TITANS ON ESPN+
Titans fans can now watch home contests exclusively on ESPN+. Cal State Fullerton has built a top-tier production studio to give the viewers an ESPN-quality production for Titans Athletics. Additionally, all schools in the Big West Conference are committed to producing ESPN-quality streams, which will allow fans to watch the Titans on ESPN+ for all road conference games.