Huskies Fall to Golden Bears in Series Finale
BERKELEY, Calif. – Washington fell to California 5-6 Sunday in the series finale of the opening weekend of Pac-12 play.
Kinsey Fiedler got the Dawgs going in her first at-bat, homering to center field. Brooke Nelson then hit a sac fly to score Baylee Klingler and give the Dawgs the 2-0 lead. With bases loaded and one out in the bottom of the first, Kelley Lynch struck the next two batters out to end the Cal threat. She then opened the second inning with two more strikeouts.
After Cal answered in the third with its own two-run home run, Fiedler hit the long ball again, this time scoring three Huskies.
Cal's single in the fourth brought two runs in, with an obstruction call on the Washington catcher. The Golden Bears took the lead in the sixth on a bunt and an error.
Lynch pitched three innings of work and struck out five. Gabbie Plain came in for relief and moves to 9-3 on the year.
CALIFORNIA SCORING
1st: Kinsey Fiedler homered to center field in the first at-bat of the game.
1st: Brooke Nelson hit a sac fly to score Baylee Klingler.
3rd: Cal homered to center field (2 RBI).
4th: Fiedler hit her second home run of the game to score fellow freshmen Angie Yellen and Rylee Holtorf.
4th: The Golden Bears answered, scoring two runs on a single.
6th: A Cal batter bunted, scoring the runner on third. The runner on second scored by an error on the pitcher.
CALIFORNIA NOTES
Kinsey Fiedler homered twice for the first time in her young career. She joins Olivia Johnson and former Huskies Noelle Hee and Taylor Van Zee as the only freshmen Dawgs to hit two home runs in a single game.
Washington freshmen scored four of the team's five runs.
Kelley Lynch pitched the first three innings and struck out five batters. Gabbie Plain came in for relief in the fourth and walked a career-high six batters.
This is the first time Washington has lost the series to California since 2015.
Washington finishes its six straight weekends of road play. The last time the Dawgs were on the road for the first six weekends of the season was in 2005, in Coach Heather Tarr's first season as head coach.