The Wildcats kicked off their series against the Cal Poly Humboldt Lumberjacks on Thursday afternoon, with both teams displaying their talented lineups. 

In game one, Humboldt struck first and never looked back. A two-run homerun in the second inning followed by five hits in the third put the Lumberjacks ahead by six. Junior pitcher Amelie Valdez had her shortest outing of the season, lasting just over two innings and raising her ERA to 1.72. Hannah Levy and Marissa Anderson recorded the Wildcats’ only two hits while they were unable to overcome the 6-0 deficit, handing Valdez her sixth loss.

After a one-hour rain delay two innings into game two, the Wildcats’ offense bounced back with four runs on nine hits. Kylie Loertscher pitched four strong innings, striking out six. Aiyana Curry led the offense with three RBIs while Kennedy Gustin added one late in the game to give the Wildcats the lead. Bella Tavares took over in the fifth inning and silenced Humboldt, allowing no hits. The efforts from Loertscher and Tavares held Humboldt to three runs to secure the doubleheader split and their 14th win. 

“That’s tough to do against Humboldt,” head coach Angel Shamblin said. “They got a great lineup so the fact that we were able to do that was just a great performance by both of them.”

The Wildcats will finish the series on Saturday with a doubleheader starting at 11 a.m. Home games are free for students who bring their student ID or show their Canvas home page.

Rebecca Gonzalez can be reached at orionmanagingeditor@gmail.com.