Staff Reports
Arizona Daily Wildcat
March 12, 1998

Softball team rolls to pair of wins

The top-ranked Arizona softball team got back on the winning road yesterday with a doubleheader sweep in California.

UA defeated No. 18 Cal State-Northridge by the scores of 8-1 and 5-0.

Freshman Nicole Giordano, a former standout at nearby Saugus High School, went 4 for 7 on the afternoon and senior Nancy Evans earned her 100th victory as a Wildcat.

Evans also homered in going 2 for 4 at the plate.

The Wildcats (23-2) opened the scoring in game one on freshman Toni Mascarenas' two-run homer in the top of the first.

The Matadors (11-7-1) put their lone run of the afternoon on the board in the bottom of the third to cut the Wildcats' lead to one, but an Arizona five-run fifth inning put the game out of reach.

In that inning, senior Alison McCutcheon and Giordano singled and, after Mascarenas popped out to third base, senior Lety Pineda slugged a three-run home run to increase UA's lead to 5-1.

From there it was all Evans. She struck out seven while yielding four hits in garnering the complete-game victory. She also provided some icing on the cake with a home run in the top of the seventh.

In the night cap, Becky Lemke bounced back from a pair of losses last weekend to toss a two-hitter. She also struck out four Matador hitters.

Arizona got on the board when freshman Lindsay Collins' base hit drove in senior Leah Braatz. Evans, who reached on a fielder's choice after Braatz walked to start the inning, later scored on an error by Northridge second baseman Augrista Belford.

The Wildcats added single runs in the third, fourth and fifth innings before the game had to be called because UA had to catch a plane back to Tucson.

Pineda drove in her fourth run of the afternoon on a single in the third, scoring Giordano.

In the fourth, sophomore Katie Swan was hit by a pitch and advanced to second base after sophomore Chrissy Gil grounded out to third. McCutcheon then doubled, allowing Swan to score.

The Wildcats added their final run of the game in the fifth when Mascarenas scored on an RBI single by Evans.

Arizona takes the weekend off before a 4 p.m. battle with Iowa State at Hillenbrand Stadium Monday.