Sacramento State Softball team added two wins to their Pacific Coast Softball Conference total after a pair of comebacks in its third and fourth games of the weekend against Santa Clara University, beating the Broncos 5-4 and 7-4.

The Hornets finished their four-game sweep against the Broncos on Saturday afternoon at Shea Stadium with two wins, leaving them tied with Saint Mary’s for second place in the PCSC behind first-place University of San Diego.

The wins were important for the team after a three-game sweep at the hands Saint Mary’s last weekend caused the Hornets to fall into last place. This weekend’s wins brought the Hornets’ winning streak against Santa Clara to 21, dating back to 2007.

Head Coach Kathy Strahan said her squad was disappointed after the losses against Saint Mary’s. The Hornets practiced hard this week, and she said they are happy with the results.

“Everything we did at practice this week we structured for up-tempo. Quicker pace, quicker game, our energy, taking control and doing those things,” Strahan said. “It was nice to see it pay off.”

Both games saw the team trailing Santa Clara by the end of the fourth inning, but Sac State was able to recover, taking advantage of Bronco errors in the first game and home runs in the second game.

In the first game, Hornet senior pitcher Shelby Voelz allowed four runs on as many hits by the Broncos in the fourth inning, leaving Sac State trailing by two.

Santa Clara had given up three runs in the game due to fielding errors, two in the second inning giving Sac State an early lead. The Broncos fired back in the fourth with one run from junior Alyssa Jepson and three runs on a hit by freshman Jordan Newell, which gave theBroncos the lead.

The Hornets gained footing in the fifth when sophomore Devin Caldwell scored on a Broncos fielding error. Alyssa Nakken later hit a single in the seventh inning allowing junior Kelli Frye to score a run to tie the game.

Sac State padded their lead after freshman Kaitlyn Taylor hit an RBI single up the middle of the field, driving in Nakken for the final run in the game.

In the second game, freshman Caitlin Brooks pitched the first four innings for the Hornets with five strikeouts but allowed four runs and three walks before being relieved by sophomore Taylor Stroud.

The Broncos took the lead in the fourth inning with two runs on a hit by sophomore Stephanie Fisher to left-center field. Two more runs were made by the team in the fifth to widen the lead to four runs.

Sac State came back again in the sixth with three runs of its own. The seventh inning was highlighted by two home runs by Navarro and Taylor resulting in four runs to give the team a three-run lead.

The Hornets have three more teams to face in the PCSC until the tournament: Loyola Marymount (4-4), CSU Bakersfield (3-5) and San Diego (6-2) with the next game against Loyola on April 14-15 in a four-game series.

Joe de Ocampo can be reached at [email protected].