35-0: CSM SOFTBALL FINISHES UNBEATEN REGULAR SEASON RUN

April 22, 2015

COLLEGE OF SAN MATEO SPORTS NEWS

SAN MATEO – 35-0 and 23-0 are just a few of the superlatives achieved by College of San Mateo's record setting top-ranked softball team -- which defeated visiting Foothill, 20-0, Tuesday. The Bulldogs finished regular season play with a 35-0 record, the best in school history.

Lauren Berriatua will take a 23-0 record into postseason play (May 2-3) after pitching four nearly perfect innings and lowering her state-leading earned run average to 0.28. The sophomore righthander struck out seven and allowed just one hit -- a single in the second frame – after which she struck out the side. Berriatua, a sophomore righthander from Notre Dame (Belmont) also hit a double and scored three times for a .543 season batting average.

Lacie Crawford pitched the final frame of the mercy-rule shutout, which ended with a strikeout.

"It's pretty awesome," said CSM coach Nicole Borg about the perfect season. "This wasn't in our sights at the beginning." The Bulldogs remain focused on a return trip to the state final four in Bakersfield, May 15-17. San Mateo finished 16-0 in Coast North play.

Leilani Akai and Melina Rodriquez both hit home runs. Rodriquez hit safely in her 34th straight game (over two seasons). She also had a double and scored three times, finishing with a state-pacesetting .618 batting average. (Because of an injury, the sophomore first baseman out of James Logan High did not have enough appearances to qualify as the official state leader.)

Carlmont High (Belmont) grad Christy Peterson went 3-for-3 (including two doubles) with three RBIs and scored twice. Kayleen Smith had two hits and scored twice.

Foothill finished third in the Coast North at 8-8, 17-17 overall.

--CSM will host the Northern California seeding meeting on Saturday and learn the opponent for the first round playoff series the Bulldogs will host on May 2-3.

photo by Terry Bernal/Daily Journal