SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Utah State was down to their final out but was aided by a Bronco error to rally and beat Santa Clara softball 8-5 in the finale of the Silicon Valley Classic II Tournament on Saturday afternoon at SCU Softball Stadium.

With Santa Clara holding onto a 4-3 lead in the top of the seventh, Broncos reliever Regan Dias loaded the bases on a walk and a pair of hit batsmen.  With two outs, Dias induced a grounder to Tyler Thornton but a fielding miscue by Bronco shortstop Allyson Ferreira allowed two runs to score.

The Broncos (12-17) answered back with a run in the home half of the seventh when Ferreira led off the inning with a double and came home on Cameron McGinnis' single to knot the game up at 5-all.

However, the Aggies (10-13) put up three runs in the eighth on three hits off Lauren Anderson to pull out the win in extra innings.

Utah State scored seven runs in the final three frames to come back from a 4-1 deficit.

Santa Clara (12-17) held a three run lead heading to the top of the sixth on an RBI single by Sarah Ellersick and two by Sammy Needham to go along with an Aggie error that scored the fourth run.

Utah State trimmed the lead to 4-3 in the sixth on pinch-hit RBI singles by Tyler Thornson and Bri Lerma against Bronco reliever Regan Dias.

Libbie Hawker went 3-for-4 including driving home the game winning run in the eighth singling home Zaia Castruita who was placed on second base to begin the inning as part of the international tiebreak rule.  Macfarlane went 2-for-4 with three runs and two RBIs.

Emma Bickford, Needham and McGinnis each had two hits apiece for SCU.

Jessica Stewart (3-2) was credited with the win, giving up one run over the final three innings.  Anderson (0-2) was the losing pitcher on record. 

NEXT UP

The Broncos head to Stockton, California to face Marist and Iowa State on Saturday.   

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