The bats cooled off with the weather on Wednesday night when Fresno State softball took on the CSU Bakersfield.
They warmed up at the right time as Fresno State (7-6) batted its way to a 3-2 win over the Roadrunners at Bulldog Diamond.
The Bulldogs were shutout five innings before their bats thawed out in the sixth, and a Vonnie Martin single scored Stesha Brazil to earn them their first run.
They rode that momentum into the seventh inning.
Left fielder Diane Runge got on base through sheer speed when she beat out a squib to second base for an infield single. Center fielder Brenna Moss followed with a triple to the right field fence to score Runge and tie the game at 2-2. That brought up second baseman Brooke Ortiz, who singled into shallow right- field to score Moss and win the game in walk-off fashion.
While it did not happen quite the way she wanted, Coach Trisha Ford said she was happy with the win.
“Wins are always good,” Ford said. “I wish we would’ve maybe had a little more of an aggressive approach offensively and put them away a little bit earlier, but wins are always good.”
The victory came at an opportune time for Fresno State. It snapped a five-game losing streak in what was the Bulldogs’ lone home game before two weekend tournaments on the road.
“We’re very young,” Ford said, “so we’re still trying to learn how to have approaches, how pitchers are setting us up and how we can kind of combat that. We just have to learn from each at-bat and each pitch and use that to better our at-bats.”
The early innings of the game were all about pitching as Fresno State freshman Hannah Harris and CSU Bakersfield’s Kelsie Monroe squared off in a pitcher’s duel.
In her sixth start of the season, Harris gave up one earned run and five hits in four-plus innings of work.
“She’s getting there,” Ford said. “I think that she still has a lot of room for improvement, all of our pitchers still do. They’re working hard, and I think that we’ll make that jump, but we’re still a progression away.”
Freshman Taylor Langdon entered the game in the fifth in relief of Harris and earned her second win of the season — both coming in relief appearances. In three innings of work, Langdon gave up one earned run and five hits. Neither Bulldog pitcher gave up a walk.
The Bulldogs now look toward the weekend where they will face San Jose State, Santa Clara, Cal State Northridge, Saint Mary’s and Idaho State at the three-day Santa Clara Tournament.
This comes after last weekend’s appearance at the Gaucho Classic I at UC Santa Barbara — where Fresno State went winless.
“I think that as we go on through the season being road tested is a good quality to have,” Ford said. “I think that we have some things that we have to get better at, but I think that whether it’s at home or on the road those are still things we could do regardless.”
Ford said she expects the team to be able to ride Wednesday’s walk-off win into the upcoming tournament.
“I hope that we kind of take the high from this and put a good approach to the teams we’re going to face this weekend and come out on top.”
