Lady Bulldogs match record win streak

	Terry Bernal/Daily Journal After a 3-for-3 performance in Game 1 of a doubleheader, CSM sophomore Lauren Berriatua drops a perfect squeeze bunt to drive home a run in the fifth inning of Game 2.
	Lauren Berriatua legs out the squeeze bunt for an infield single as her RBI slides into home.

Last season, the College of San Mateo softball team set a program record with a 26-game winning streak.

Not only did the Lady Bulldogs — ranked No. 1 in the state by a unanimous selection — match that record Saturday. With a doubleheader sweep to win their 26th straight, they extended the program record for most wins to start a season.

Behind the untouchable pitching dominance of Lauren Berriatua, CSM (26-0) is showing no signs of slowing down. The sophomore right-hander has split time with sophomore right-hander Lacie Crawford this season. As a result, Berriatua ranks 15th in the state with 95 2/3 innings pitched. Yet she leads the state in wins (18), ERA (0.22) and ranks fourth in strikeouts (115).

And Berriatua is loving life as CSM's ace.

"I love it. It's awesome," Berriatua said. "I have a great defense behind me and just being a pitcher and being out there is great."

The Notre Dame-Belmont grad isn't just CSM's mainstay in the circle though. She is also one of the cornerstone bats for a Bulldogs lineup leading the state in hitting with a .417 team batting average.

In Saturday's doubleheader sweep of Reedley (12-13), Berriatua did it all to lead CSM to a 5-0 win. In the circle, she fired a three-hit shutout, extending her scoreless-innings streak to 25; and it has been 29 innings since she surrendered her last earned run.

At the plate, Berriatua was flawless out of the cleanup spot, going 3 for 3 with three doubles, one in each of CSM's run-scoring innings.

"She did a great job offensively for us," CSM head coach Nicole Borg said. "She's a big bat in our lineup and it's nice, for us, for her to be able to play both sides. That's really big for us."

Freshman right-fielder Riley Wells was 2 for 3 with two RBIs in Game 1, and the Hillsdale grad just kept swinging it in Game 2. Wells was 2 for 4 with two RBIs and three runs scored in the nightcap as CSM rolled to a 10-3 win. Kaitlin Chang and Harlee Donovan also had two hits and two RBIs apiece while Christy Peterson was 2 for 3 with an RBI.

The most versatile at-bat of Game 2 came from Berriatua though. Her lone knock of the game came amid a four-run rally in the fifth inning on a squeeze play that went for an RBI single.

"It was a really nice bunt she laid down," Borg said. "I was trying to keep the momentum in our favor right there and kind of catch them by surprise because she had hit four or five balls to the fence already. So, everyone is back behind the bag and we have one of our fastest runners at third. So, what the heck? Why not?"

The Bulldogs' 10-spot served up a comeback win to allow Crawford to improve her record to 8-0. The freshman surrendered one run in the third and two more in the fourth to give Reedley a 3-1 lead. But after Chang's two-out, two-run double to give the Bulldogs a 4-3 lead in the bottom of the fourth, Crawford posted three straight shutout innings to close out CSM's record-tying 26th straight victory.

"Even though I let a couple runs score, my offense had my back and scored some more," Crawford said. "I just had to gather myself and come back out and hold them."

The quintessential win in extending the winning streak was CSM's dramatic 1-0 victory at Cabrillo — ranked No. 3 in Northern California — last Thursday. Berriatua locked up with Seahawks ace Taylor Tessier in a game that was settled by an unearned Bulldogs run in the fifth.

"That was huge," Borg said. "To win on the road, especially down there against the No. 3 seed in the north, that was big for us."

As if CSM's undefeated record with 10 games remaining in the regular season isn't impressive enough, the team has had to win its last 10 without regular leadoff hitter Melina Rodriguez. The sophomore dislocated her shoulder Feb. 28 in the early innings of a win over Sequoias. According to Borg, it is uncertain when Rodriguez will rejoin the team.