BERKELEY – California struggled with consistency on both sides of the ball on Saturday in its official home opener against Stanford.
 
The Cardinal took full advantage bringing in early scores on a walk and a pair of errors to move ahead by two runs after two innings. The Golden Bears battled back in the seventh scoring a two-out run, stringing together three consecutive singles, but ultimately fell 9-3.
 
It marks the first time Cal lost to Stanford since 2014, when the Bears fell 14-13 when the Cardinal was ranked 21st.
 
Even after giving up three early scores in the top of the second, Cal shortened the gap quickly behind an RBI double from third baseman Karlee Sparacino, who was one of three Bears to go 2-for-4 on the day along with Lindsay Rood and Makena Smith. The sophomore brought Jordan Fines, who scored twice for Cal, across the plate.
 
Fines came home off the bat of freshman Alexandra Perez, who also knocked in an RBI double to move things to 5-2 in the bottom of the sixth as Cal hoped to pull in another comeback win.
 
Cal has had its share of closely-contested battles and comeback victories, most notably in a preseason contest against No. 24 Notre Dame. After posting four runs in the bottom of the seventh to force a tiebreaker during the preseason, Cal overcame a 6-2 deficit to win 7-6.
 
Unfortunately, Saturday's late momentum was not sustained long enough to recuperate from the four runs in the top of the seventh by the Cardinal.
 
Senior ace Zoe Conley, who started strong with consecutive strikeouts to close the first inning, walked seven and tallied as many earned runs. The Berkeley native, now 6-6, fanned six in a complete game effort.
 
The Bears return to action on Sunday at 2 p.m. (PT) to try to split the series. The game will be broadcast on Pac-12 Networks.
 
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