The UCSB softball team dropped a pair of games to Stanford on Tuesday in Palo Alto. After losing three straight games, the Cardinal rebounded and put the Gauchos away 7-2 in the first game. In the second game, Stanford scored five runs in the sixth inning to easily defeat Santa Barbara 8-3.

The two losses send the Gauchos record to 18-29 on the season, while Stanford improves to an outstanding 35-8.

In the first game, Santa Barbara junior hurler SylviaSantos lasted just two innings, giving up four hits and four earned runs. Stanford center fielder Jessica Mendoza doubled off Santos in the first and then homered in her second at-bat in the same inning, to knock out the Gauchos early.

Senior shortstop Julia Tamai went one for three at the plate for Santa Barbara and scored a run in the losing effort. Stanford pitcher Tori Nyberg pitched four shutout innings and picked up her 20th win of the season.

The Gauchos jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the third inning of game two on junior third baseman Chantal Pershing’s sacrifice fly that scored senior second baseman Kim Sawyer.

The game remained close until the bottom of the sixth, however. The Cardinal exploded for five runs on six singles and two walks in the inning. UCSB sophomore pitcher Katie Junge, who had won her last three decisions, gave five earned runs on 12 hits while walking six in the losing effort.

Junge’s rough outing broke up a recent hot streak for the Santa Barbara hurler. In her last six appearances, Junge hadn’t allowed more than two walks in a game.