@BearsSoftball Celebrates Senior Day on Saturday Afternoon

Saturday, April 20

Greeley, Colo.

12 PM

University of Northern Colorado

11-33, 5-9

Sacramento State

27-18, 8-3

Sacramento State

Northern Colorado

Photo by: Ryan Ronan

4/20/2019 6:13:00 PM | Softball

Box Score

Northern Colorado dropped the home finale, 5-4, to Sacramento State

By: Matthew Kushar, UNCBears.com

It was senior day for Northern Colorado softball on Saturday, but the team fell short against Sacramento State, 5-6. UNC's continued to press against the Hornets and keep the game close, but could not get over the edge to take the lead.

"I was very pleased Val's performance," head coach Ben Garcia. "There were a couple of hard hits, but she did a great job. She gave us every opportunity to win this game We have had situations that we haven't taken care of. If we can get over the first inning, we're okay and relax. We make some mistakes that give up runs. When you give a team more than three outs; that comes back to haunt us. We did that all weekend. I'm really confident throughout the conference that we can play with anyone. We have shown that every weekend in conference. When we are on, we have a chance."

Valerie Vidal started in the circle for the final time at Gloria Rodriguez Field. The Hornets had Savannah Corr opposite of her.

Sac St. was on the board first, as Krystal Aubert hit her third home run of the series in the top of the second inning. The Hornets added another run on a UNC fielding error to hold a 2-0 advantage.

Shaena Robinson would cut the deficit in the bottom of the second for the Bears, belting a solo home run to left field. It was Robinson's fourth home run of the season.

"It felt wonderful," Robinson said. "I'm so happy I was able to do that pull through. It felt like I was right back on the field. I was able study the pitchers and get my timing down from the past two games. We have been close every time. We just needed to step it up a little bit on offense and defense. But I believe in our team and I'm confident we can make it to the conference tournament."

In the bottom of the third, UNC tied the game at two after Dani Young singled through the right side to score Mady Young.

The tie did not last long as the Hornets went in front with a solo home run from Sydnee Strong in the top of the fourth. Sac St. pushed another run across in the top of the fifth with an RBI double to build a 4-2 advantage over UNC.

Emma Brockmann responded in the bottom of the fifth, hitting her fourth home run of the season to cut the lead to 4-3.

Both Vidal and Corr recorded 1-2-3 innings in the sixth and the game moved to the seventh with the Hornets leading.

In the top half of the inning, Sac St padded its lead with an RBI double.

Kenzie Kudrna led-off the bottom of the seventh with a single and then advanced to second on a wild pitch. After moving to third on a ground out, Kudrna scored on a Mady Young double, cutting the deficit to one run. The Bears could not get any more hits in the inning and Sac. St. finished off the sweep of the Bears with a 5-4 win.

Vidal took the loss after pitching a complete game and allowing four earned runs.

"I was really trying to make sure I did everything I could do to keep the team focused," Vidal said. "It was kind of an emotional day, but we have a job to do and come out and win a game. We really just tried to maintain how we know how to play and keep the momentum."

Game Notes

Dani Young batted .750 in the three game series against the Hornets, with one home run, five RBIS, one double, three runs scored and two walks.
Cheyenne Talmadge made the most of her final home series, batting .545 with three runs scored and two RBIs.
UNC's lineup batted .318 and scored 18 runs in the three game series. The Bears were only outscored 23-18 in the series by the Hornets.
Valerie Vidal pitched 15 of the teams 21 innings, with two complete games and a 6.00 ERA.

Senior Day
"They are a great group," Garcia said. "Some of them are hurt and it would have been nice to have them out there. Jordyn [Wiatrak] has been a great leader off the field and it would have been great to have that leadership on the field as well. Madi Schmidt is a hard player to replace. Val is not an everyday player, but when she's out there you can see her ability. Kenz and Chey; there are no better players or people. They've had a great year. I think it's the best year they have had since they've been here. They gave us their best shot and that's all I can ask from them."

Next Up
Northern Colorado will travel up I-25 for its second game against Colorado State, now ranked No. 25. The Bears will then travel to Missoula for their final regular season series against Montana next weekend.