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Cal softball won four straight games in emphatic fashion as star players and league-leading playmakers exhibited their skills. Junior Makena Smith continued to shine as the team’s offensive leader, and Sona Halajian showed that pitchers can rake by driving in nine RBIs.

As February came to a close, Cal softball made sure to end the month with a bang at the DeMarini Invitational, winning four games, with a pair of wins over both Fresno State and Mount St. Mary’s.

The Bulldogs fell to the Bears without scoring a run, getting outplayed 16-0 in the two-game series. Cal was expected to win against the struggling Fresno State team, so the Bears made sure to not overlook the opponent and instead brought their best for 12 straight innings.

Mount St. Mary’s proved to be a more rugged team, putting up a valiant effort in their first game against Cal that resulted in an 8-5 loss. Nevertheless, the Bears still came out on top in both matchups against the Mount.

The Bears entered the weekend with an 8-3 record and went undefeated in this four-game stretch, finishing on Sunday at 12-3 overall.

Season spark plugs Smith, Halajian, Kacey Zobac and Haylei Archer led the team in its dominant performance. Smith and Zobac each went 7 for 10, with a combined three home runs, five doubles and nine RBIs. Smith sits at a .548 batting average on the season, which leads the Pac-12.

Pitchers Archer and Halajian set up the offensive explosion by holding their opponents to three earned runs in 22 combined innings pitched. Archer finished the weekend with a 2-0 record and 14 strikeouts. Halajian went 2-0 and recorded a save at the end of game three, striking out 11 batters total and producing on the offensive side as well with four hits and nine RBIs.

This talented squad has shown its ability to outscore opponents and win games each week, finishing with a +27 run differential in back-to-back tournament play (the Littlewood Classic and the DeMarini Invitational).

The Bears look to keep their impressive win-streak alive and claim their seventh straight victory in their upcoming game against the Pacific Tigers.

After a weekend away in Stanford, the Bears return home to face off against the Tigers. Pacific also just came off of a weekend away at the Lopes Up Classic, finishing 1-4 in their five games.

Cal is coming off of a red-hot stretch of games, going undefeated in four games with a total of 13 extra-base hits on the offensive side and solid pitching performances on the defensive end.

These two teams have some history, dating back to their first encounter in 2008. In the 13 total matchups between these teams, Cal has won 12 of the games, narrowly beating Pacific 2-0 in their last meeting just under a year ago. The one game dropped to the Tigers was a 13-2 blowout in Stockton, which was accompanied by a great pitching performance on Pacific’s side.

Coming into this Wednesday afternoon game, the Bears hope to add on to their 12-3 record this season, while the Tigers look to snap a four-game losing streak and go for their fourth win overall.

The blue and gold will lean on Smith and their freshman and sophomore stars to continue to lead the pack’s momentum, while the Tigers turn to the team leaders Carly Lucchetti and Rian Dirmeyer to spearhead the effort against the Bears.

Joshua Kamins covers softball. Contact him at [email protected] .

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