The Sacramento State women’s softball team split their first two games of the 18th annual Capital Classic at Shea Stadium today, beating Utah State University 10-2 and then losing 9-4 to Colorado State University in the late game.

With the split, Sac State’s record now stands at 7-18 on the season, while Utah State’s record moves to 10-10 on their season and Colorado State’s record goes to 19-9 overall.

It took Hornet starter Shelby Voelz 72 pitches to shut the Aggie offense and earn her fourth win of the season. Behind Voelz’s start, the Hornet offense erupted for 10 runs in five innings.

The Hornet scoring started in the bottom of the second inning when Alyssa Nakken hit a three-run home run to give the Hornets a 4-0 lead. They tacked on more runs in third and the fourth.

The Aggies would get a chance in the top of the fifth inning to cut the large lead down, but were only able to score two runs.

Nakken has moved back into the leadoff role for the Hornets and wants to take advantage her opportunity by setting the tone for the team.

“I want to get on base. That’s my job,” Nakken Said. “Then it’s up to the rest of the team to move me and bring me around.”

Nakken said she felt her home run in the second pumped the team up versus the Aggies.

“We are a team that feeds off of momentum,” Nakken said. “It gave Shelby something to work with and gave her some trust.”

The Hornets then took that energy they built up into the game with the Rams hoping that would result in a win and make up for the 6-3 loss they suffered on Thursday to Colorado State. Like the first game, the Hornets were unable to keep pace with the Rams and lost Friday’s late game 9-4.

Hornet starter Jacquelyn Serrano earned the complete game loss as she threw 147 pitches in seven innings of work. Her record is now 0-3 on the season. Ram’s starter, Kelsey O’Brien, went six innings for the win, throwing just 79 pitches.

Team captain Janice Bartee took comfort in the loss as a more resilient team came to play on Friday than on Thursday.

“A whole different team came out today,” Bartee said. “The energy was extremely up in the first game, I think the second game we just more focused and trying to figure what we needed to do next to execute.”

Bartee said she feels the team needs to keep doing what they have been doing in order to get a win versus Iona College Gaels for Saturday’s day two action.

“We have a new saying, “Eye of the tiger,'” Bartee said. “We are definitely taking hold of that and running with it.”

Head coach Kathy Strahan said she was happy with her team’s resiliency.

“It’s a team effort,” Strahan said. “The leadership on the bench kept it going. They kept battling and that’s all I can ask them to do,” Strahan said. “They left everything out on the field; they played hard with a lot a heart and left it all on the field.”

Sac State will play two games Saturday starting at 1 p.m. versus Iona College and then again at 3 p.m. versus Utah State.

Matt Harrington can be reached at [email protected]