California avoided a series sweep at the hands of Utah with its 4-1 win Saturday.
SALT LAKE CITY -- Behind great pitching from Katie Sutherland-Finch, Stephanie Trzcinski and Kristin Cullen, California beat Utah 4-1 to take the series finale. Cal’s trio of pitchers stymied the Utes, allowing just five hits and walking one, helping the Bears improve to 27-9 on the season.
Trzcinski picked up the win for the Bears, improving her record to 12-2 on the year. Sutherland-Finch started the game in the circle and came back in to pick up the save, throwing four innings and striking out four.
After a scoreless first inning, the Bears put two runs on the board in the second to take the 2-0 lead. With Britt Vonk and Danielle Henderson on first and second, Taurie Pogue lined a single to left to bring in Henderson. Breana Kostreba followed things up with a perfectly placed blooper to left that brought in Vonk.
The Utes tacked a run on the board in the bottom of the third, but the Bears came right back to score two in the fourth inning to take a 4-1 lead. Vonk singled and Bailey O’Mara hit a shot to left center to bring in a run. Later in the inning, Kostreba hit her first home run of the year after a long at-bat against Utes’ pitcher Katie Donovan to collect her second RBI of the day.
That would be all the scoring on the afternoon, as the Utes were held scoreless from the fourth inning on.
The Bears came up with big pitches all afternoon, none more important than the one Sutherland-Finch threw to end the ball game. With two outs in the bottom of the seventh, Katie Dickman, who entered the game hitting .438 for the Utes, came to the plate with two runners on base, but Sutherland-Finch got her to ground out to second baseman Kylie Reed to seal the win.
Katie Donovan took the loss for Utah, throwing seven innings and allowing four runs on nine hits.
