In the midst of a lengthy losing streak and mired in inconsistency, the Sac State Hornets took the 15th ranked Oregon State Beavers to the brink during a double-header Tuesday at Shea Stadium, before being victimized by the late-game heroics of the Beavers? Shawna Feldt.

Feldt opened the scoring in the fifth inning of the first game, roping a two-run double to the fence, leading the Beavers to a 5-0 win. In the final game of the double-dip, Feldt broke up Gina Steenburgen?s no-hitter when her triple into the gap drove home Michelle Notaro with the winning run, sending the Hornets packing 2-1.

Hornet softball head coach Kathy Strahan was impressed but not convinced by the play of the Beavers.

“I think Oregon State had the horses in the first game but the second game was a coin toss,” said Strahan. “I think we had the horses as much as Oregon State did. It was anyone?s ball game.”

While the Beavers (29-10-1) may have had the horses in the first race, it still took them nearly five innings to leg out the Hornets and sophomore hurler Jillian Bivert. Bivert went the distance for the Hornets (9-19 overall, 0-2 in the Big West), striking out four while walking just one.

“I was pleased with the way Jill played,” Strahan said of the Woodland, Calif. native. “She set a tone and made a statement.”

Although she relinquished nine base hits, Bivert kept the Beavers honest ? for five innings at least. Bivert worked out of a jam in the third, when the Beavers moved both Brooke Rutschman and Steph Adams into scoring position. Poised to score a run and break the deadlock, Bivert induced Michelle Charlton into an easy grounder back towards the mound, ending the threat.

Yet, it wouldn?t be the last she would see of the Beavers? Adams and Rutschman.

After Adams opened the fifth inning with a double to right field and Rutschman followed suit with a single two batters later, Feldt made sure the Beavers would cash in on their legwork. Taking a Bivert offering, Feldt laced the ball up and over the would-be centerfielders head, driving home both Adams and Rutschman.

From there it all came undone for the Hornets.

This time it was Traci Feldt, not Shawna Feldt, who would do most of the damage.

T. Feldt opened the sixth inning similar to the way S. Feldt ended the fifth, roping a double down the right field line. After both Clare Burnham and Kaitlin Wilson reached base via fielding mistakes, Adams sailed a sacrifice fly, scoring T. Feldt. After a double-steal saw Burnham swipe home plate giving the Beavers a commanding four-run lead, Rutschman roped a run-scoring single for insurance.

As hard as the Beavers hit Bivert in the fifth and sixth innings, Strahan knows the Hornets fielding woes and mental mistakes cost them a chance at winning the opener.”We had an opportunity to win,” Strahan said. “We need to learn not to make mistakes and keep ourselves in the game.”

The Hornets did manage to mount a small threat in the seventh inning, when both Bivert and Jennifer Jokinen found themselves in scoring position. But Draper, who struck out four Hornets in the game, got Veronica Rodriguez and got Meghan Cunningham to ground out to end the threat.

Fielding mistakes and mental lapses continued to haunt the Hornets in the final game of the double-header, and S. Feldt and her band of Beavers would make them pay again.

After sitting them down in order through three innings, sophomore pitcher Gina Steenburgen watched as her infield made costly error after costly error in the fourth inning.

Following an error by the Hornets? Lori Meixner, which allowed the fleet-footed S. Feldt to reach base, third baseman Mary Villalpando threw the ball away on a grounder by Shelly Prochaska, sending S. Feldt screaming home.

However, the Hornets came swarming back in their half of the fourth, thanks largely to freshman Amber Dragomir and her bat. Dragomir opened the inning with a bunt and later scored on an RBI double by Bivert.

“As a freshman she?s doing a great job. She?s getting better and better,” said Strahan of Dragomir, who also plays soccer for Sac State. “She on more than she?s off. She?s a tough out to get.”

Dragomir led the offensive push for the Hornets during the double-header, batting 3-for-6 with a run.

But, it would be S. Feldt who would have the last laugh Tuesday. After Notaro was hit by a pitch in the sixth inning by Steenburgen and awarded first base, the senior transfer from Mississippi St. lined a run-scoring triple to the wall, giving the Beavers a 2-1 lead.

S. Feldt?s drive was the first Beaver hit off of Steenburgen, who worked five innings of no-hit ball. All in all, Steenburgen allowed just two hits in seven innings of work.

“Our pitching stepped up for us,” Strahan said. “But our pitching and our hitting offense take turns making a presence (each game).”

On Tuesday, it was their batting that was absent. As a team the Hornets collected just seven hits and managed just a single run. Meanwhile, the Beavers banged out 11 hits and produced seven runs during the two-game series.

“Oregon State was a very formidable opponent,” Strahan said. “They?re ranked and I?m anxious to see when we start playing non-ranked opponents.”

The sliding Hornets play host to Portland State today at Shea Stadium in a doubleheader at 1 p.m.