After another weekend in the books, the UCSB softball team continues to hover around that .500 mark.

On Saturday, Santa Barbara (12-11) split two games with Loyola University Chicago (5-10), a 10-2 mercy win and a 3-0 loss. The following day, UCSB mercied North Dakota (5-13) 12-4 and earned a 4-1 victory over Loyola Marymount (15-9).

In the Gauchos’ first of two games with the Ramblers, a seven-run second inning quickly erased the lead Loyola Chicago had gained with two runs in the first. Two runs did come on two Rambler errors in that inning, but Santa Barbara got two more runs in the third to increase its advantage. Senior third baseman Tisha Duran would eventually end things with a walk-off homerun in the sixth. Sophomore pitcher Lindsey Correa (7-3) finished the contest with four strikeouts while allowing three walks and five hits.

“We need to do the little things,” Head Coach Brie Galicinao said. “Even though we beat the team by eight the first game, we did not play sharp. The [Ramblers] made mistakes and we did a good job of taking advantage of them, but it’s just a matter of everyone stepping up and doing the small things and we didn’t make the adjustments in doing that.”

The Gaucho offense disappeared in game two as UCSB was shutout by sophomore hurler Amy Solava. Santa Barbara left a total of nine runners on base and the home team could not provide run production for sophomore MeLinda Matsumoto (2-7) who took the loss.

“[Solava] was spinning it up, and we needed to make the adjustment of getting on top of the ball,” Galicinao said. “We can hit it really hard, but if it’s in the air, it’s more likely that it’s going to be an out. We got six hits, but they were dispersed. Regardless of whoever the other pitcher is, we as a team are talented enough to score a lot of runs.”

On Sunday, the Gauchos scored at least two runs in each of its five innings with North Dakota, highlighted by a two-run homer by Duran, a solo shot from senior designated player Danielle Meyers and four RBI from sophomore first baseman Jessica Ziegler in the game.

Correa then had one of her better outings of the season against Loyola Marymount by allowing just one run on three hits with three walks and three strikeouts. Freshman shortstop Jessica Beristianos went deep for a three-run homerun in the fifth inning after the top of the lineup set the table, and UCSB never looked back after tacking on another run in the sixth.

Gaucho softball stays on the road this weekend, playing four games in the LMU Tournament which concludes with a game against host Loyola Marymount on Sunday.