SANTA CLARA, Calif. – Santa Clara softball swept the series opening doubleheader against Pacific on Saturday to remain undefeated in West Coast Conference play and extend their win streak to a season-high seven games.  The Broncos shutout the Tigers 3-0 in the first game behind Cari Ferguson's pitching as head coach Gina Carbonatto became the winningest coach in program history with her 114th career victory.  In the backend game, Kyla Acres walked it off with an RBI hit in the bottom of the eighth to give Santa Clara a 4-3 win.  

Game 1: Santa Clara 3 - Pacific 0

HOW IT HAPPENED:

• Cari Ferguson was outstanding in the circle and carried a no-hitter into the sixth inning before Olivia Silvestre beat out an infield single to start the frame.  The only other hit allowed by the freshman hurler was to Delaney Scully in the seventh.  In her 135 pitch effort, Ferguson struck out three and walked four to lower her league leading ERA to 2.35.  It was her fifth win of the season.    
• Santa Clara (24-14, 4-0 WCC) got all three runs in the fourth against Tigers starter Justice Alcaraz.  Kyle Acres led off the inning with a double and the Broncos loaded the bases on singles by Leiora Davidson and Robynn Balmediano.  An RBI grounder by Cairah Curran brought in the first run, followed by Rebecca Rubio's two-RBI single.  Rubio finished 3-for-4, part of a 11 hit day for SCU.  Alcaraz allowed all 11 hits over five innings and dropped to 8-6 on the year.  
• Pacific (12-24, 1-3 WCC) put the leadoff runner on in four of the seven innings but were 0-for-12 with runners on against Ferguson.  
• With the win, Carbonatto surpassed Marcy Crouch who compiled a 113-166 record from 2000-04.  In her sixth year on the Mission Campus, Carbonatto's record stood at 114-129.

Game 2: Santa Clara 4 - Pacific 3 (8)

HOW IT HAPPENED:

• Tied at 3-all in the bottom of the eighth and with Elle Merlino representing the game-winning run at second, pinch hitter Kyla Acres smoked a single past the shortstop to score Merlino and give Santa Clara (25-14, 5-0 WCC) a 4-3 victory.  It was the only time the Bronco led in the game, coming back from a 2-0 and 3-2 deficits on Hazyl Gray's hits to tie the game before Acres' game winner.   
• Pacific (12-25, 1-4 WCC) put up a run in the first and the third innings against Broncos starter Hannah Edwards.  The Tigers had three singles in the opening frame with the third hit coming from Presley Barnes to score Amanda Bricker.  In the third, Bricker hit a solo home run just inside the left field pole to double the lead to 2-0.  Both Barnes and Bricker had two hits in the game.  
• The Broncos answered with a pair of runs in the home half of the third on Gray's two-RBI double to knot the game up at 2-all. 
• Peyton Clifford put the Tigers up by a run on an RBI single in the fourth but Santa Clara evened things out at 3-3 on another double by Gray in the fifth.  Taryn Clements drew a leadoff walk against Alexa Lewis before coming home on Gray's two-bagger.  
• Gray threw four scoreless innings in relief of Edwards to earn her ninth win of the season.  At the plate, she went 3-for-4 with three RBIs.  
• Hannah Glad threw the final 2 1/3 innings and gave up the walk-off hit to suffer the loss and drop to 0-5 on the season.    
• The Broncos seven-game win streak matched last season's streak and it is the longest since the 2004 season when that team won 12 straight to close out the season.  

NEXT UP:

• Santa Clara and Pacific play at noon on Sunday to close out the series.       

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