Behind the bat of sophomore first baseman Sasha Margulies, Sacramento State softball cruised past the University of the Pacific on Tuesday in Stockton. Margulies, who led the team in batting average and RBIs coming into the game, went 4-for-4 with two RBIs and a run scored.

“The patience I showed today at the plate helped me see more pitches and to choose a pitch that I could drive to score runs,” Margulies said.

With her performance tonight, Margulies improved her batting average on the season to .396 and 19 RBIs.

Head coach Lori Perez was impressed with her first baseman’s approach at the plate.

“To be honest, I did not even realize that she did that well tonight,” Perez said. “She was patient with every pitch of her at-bats, and took advantage of the pitchers’ mistakes.”

The Hornets combined for 14 total hits in seven innings and scored nine runs beating the Tigers, 9-5.

After the Tigers had scored one run in the bottom of the first, they saw the momentum slip from their grasp as the Hornets batted around in the top of the second inning, scoring five runs.

The runs came from an RBI double by junior center fielder Alexa Chattleton, along with three separate RBI singles from Margulies, junior right fielder Paige Martin and freshman third baseman Alexis Martinez.

Sac State would add four more runs, one in the fourth and three in the sixth. Perez said it was the timely hitting in the second inning that got her team rolling on Tuesday.

“We strung together some nice hits, with Alexa (Chattleton) and Alexis (Martinez) that came up with some clutch hits in the second inning that got the inning started,” Perez said. “Once we scored the first run, the others started rolling in afterwards.”

The Tigers mounted a comeback in the third and fifth innings with the help of its second baseman Nicole Zapotczny’s two-run home run and an RBI single by center fielder Sara Anderson.

Aside from having two errors issued by Pacific, Tigers shortstop Melanie Habib completed a 6-3 triple play in the fourth inning.

Sac State will next travel to Pocatello, Idaho to play against Idaho State in a three-game series, starting with a doubleheader Friday. First pitch is at noon.