The UCSB softball team saw its eight-game winning streak end Wednesday, losing both games of its doubleheader in evening games at Fresno State.

The Gauchos dropped the first game of the double dip 5-1. They made it a closer match in the second but the outcome was the same, with the Bulldogs manufacturing a 4-2 loss.

Junior catcher Jami Trinidad, senior shortstop Julia Tamai and senior second baseman Kim Sawyer each put together good offensive games going 2 for 3 in one of the two games. Unfortunately for the Gauchos, that wasn’t enough, as the Bulldogs were still able to walk away with the wins.

Now Santa Barbara will try to get back on the winning track this weekend as No. 10 Fullerton comes to town. The Gauchos will sure have their work cut out for them in their final homestand of the season.

Tamai has been saving her best for last in her final season with the Gauchos. The senior is leading the team offensively with her .324 average, collecting 55 hits on the season, 11 of them being doubles.

After each surrendering a loss on the mound in Fresno on Wednesday, the Gauchos will look to the efforts of sophomore pitcher Katie Junge and junior pitcher Loren Thornburg. The two righties have combined to play some of their best softball of the season in the last month.

That is exactly the kind of pitching Santa Barbara will need against the perennial softball powerhouse of Fullerton this weekend.

The two teams begin the three-game series on Saturday with a doubleheader. Game one begins at noon at Campus Diamond. Then the squads will take the field again on Sunday at noon.

Sunday’s game is Senior Day and will acknowledge the efforts of Santa Barbara’s three seniors for four years of hard work and determination with the program. Santa Barbara’s seniors include catcher Stacy Bolton, Sawyer and Tamai.

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