May 2, 2004

Final Stats

UC Santa Barbara -

Santa Barbara, Calif.- It took 16 innings, but the
UC Santa Barbara softball team posted a
2-1 victory over Utah State at Campus Diamond
to record the Big West Conference series sweep.
Freshman Brittany Putich's RBI single in the bottom of
the 16th inning gave the Gauchos the win to improve
to 10-4 in the Big West and 28-26 overall.

The game went scoreless until the top of the
seventh inning when the Aggies' Michell Vlahos
was plated on a Lauren Guzman bloop single
that landed just inside the first baseline in
shallow right field to give Utah State
its only run of the game.

With a 1-0 lead heading into the bottom of
the seventh, Utah State starting pitcher
Jessica Garnett
had a no-hitter going until Heather Nobbe
opened up with a leadoff single
to center field.   After the hit
Garnett was replaced by Leslie Higley, she
finished with three strikeouts, three walks
and one hit allowed.

Down to their final out and with Nobbe
now on third, freshman Blair Robbins hit a high fly
ball todeep leftfield that Vlahos,
the Aggies leftfielder,
could not handle and it allowed Nobbe to
score game-tying run.  Robbins was thrown
out at second base trying to stretch the play.

Now in extra-innings the game remained
knotted at 1-1 until the Gauchos finally broke
through in the bottom of the 16th, ending the
marathon game.  With two-outs and runners
on first and second, Putich laced a ground
ball into left field.  Running from second,
freshman Kendra Singley beat the through
home to give UCSB the win, one out short
of playing a complete 16 innings.

The longest game in Gauchos' history was
24 innings, played in 1984 against Long Beach State
and was called ending in a 0-0 tie.  Today's game was
the longest since 2000 when Santa Barbara lost 4-3 to LBSU in 18 innings.

Freshman Lindsey Sommer started the game in
the circle for the Gauchos and threw 10 1/3 innings,
striking out six while allowing just six hits and one
run scored.
The win went to freshman Jennifer Davis (12-13)
who pitched the final
5 2/3 innings, striking out seven and allowing just
two hits.  Reliever Leslie Higley (5-19) was credited
with the loss, throwing the final 9 2/3 innings,
giving up nine hits and one run while striking out one.

The Gauchos will next play a rescheduled rain-out
game at UC Riverside this Tuesday, May 4th and 2:00 p.m.
to conclude their Big West Series with the Highlanders