Cal Softball: Bears On a Roll Through Mary Nutter and Fresno State Tournaments
Acacia Anders collects Mary Nutter and ACC honors; California wins their ninth straight by sweeping in Fresno
Just over a week ago, the Golden Bears (15-4) rounded out the Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic thanks in part to a fantastic performance from senior infielder Acacia Anders. Batting .625 in the tournament, Anders went 10 for 16 at the plate, with four doubles and 6 RBIs. She also recorded at least 1 hit in every game, including a pair of three-hit games against LMU and Northwestern. By the end of that weekend, Anders was among the top tournament leaders in hits and batting average.
Anders’ offensive production led to her being listed on the Mary Nutter All-Tournament team, as well as being named ACC Softball Player of the Week. While unsurprising for Cal softball fans familiar with the preseason All-American, it came as a bit of a shock for the Cal senior herself. “I was surprised,” Anders admitted in an interview last week. “I didn’t realize I was doing that well until I saw my name on the [All-Tournament] board.” While she did have a vague idea of how well she was playing–she was after all getting on base frequently–Anders generally ignores the stats as she’s playing to avoid getting into her own head about her performance, a sentiment echoed by her teammate and fellow preseason All-American Elon Butler.
Playing in the Mary Nutter has been a goal of Acacia’s since she was playing travel-ball as a kid, so being named on the All-Tournament team was definitely exciting for her. In addition to her tournament honors, Anders’ performance earned her the third conference softball player of the week of her career, making her the first Cal softball player to receive the honor since joining the ACC.
The following week, the Bears traveled to Fresno, CA to participate in the Fresno State Tournament, facing Cal State Bakersfield, Southern Utah, and Fresno State. Building on the momentum of the last four games of the Mary Nutter, Cal dominated all three teams over five games, completely shutting out their opponents three times (CSU Bakersfield once, and Southern Utah twice). Thanks to another weekend of hot bats and stellar pitching, all told California outscored their opponents 39-10.
Friday 2-0 (Southern Utah & Fresno State):
In the first game of the tournament, Cal kicked things off against Southern Utah (3-12 at the time) by run-ruling the Thunderbirds 8-0, one of their strongest performances of the weekend. Cal struck immediately in the bottom of the first inning, starting with Elon Butler slapping an RBI triple into right center. “It is hard to repeat greatness…I just try to stay consistent with my mentality and I think that’s the biggest thing,” said Butler when asked about any pressure she might be feeling trying to follow up her grand slam against Northwestern the week prior. “I try not to carry one performance to the next.” Consistent is exactly how to describe the junior right fielder’s batting results.
Butler would get tantalizingly close to hitting for the cycle against Southern Utah, adding a bunt single in the third, and a 2-run home run in the fifth to her first inning triple before the game ended in a run-rule. Along with Butler, Tianna Bell homered in the second inning, Nailyn Marshall and Mia Phillips each notched doubles in the second and fourth respectively, and Phillips would walk things off with a 3-RBI double to put the game away in the fifth.
In the circle, Anna Reimers picked up her second win of the season with a fantastic complete game shutout. Reimers–who struggled last week against CSU Fullerton before regaining her footing against LMU–kept the Thunderbirds to just 2 hits, 0 ER, 1 strikeout, and 1 walk.
Finishing off the first day of tournament competition, the Bears experienced their solitary moment of fright in a close 9-8 win over the Fresno State Bulldogs (then 7-7) that came down to the wire. Four pitchers took to the circle for Cal, Ashanti McDade started the day and pitched three innings before handing things off to Ryann Orange, Annabel Teperson, and Miranda De Nava in relief for the last four. McDade finished her day having given up 5 ER on 7 hits, 1 walk, and 1 strikeout, Orange finished hers after two innings, giving up 3 ER on 2 hits, 2 walks, and a strikeout. Teperson was pulled after three batters in the sixth, having given up 3 hits, and De Nava finished the day with the win off 2 innings where she gave up 0 hits, 1 walk, and 2 strikeouts.
At the plate, California would kick things off in the second, putting up four runs quickly off a 2-RBI single from Nailyn Marshall, an RBI sacrifice fly from Lagi Quiroga, and an RBI single from Elon Butler, who also recorded three stolen bases this game. The Bears tacked on another four to make it 8-0 in the top of the third, thanks to RBI singles from Phillips, Quiroga, and Mika Lee.
Fresno State responded in the bottom of the same frame, scoring four runs off three RBI singles, and a fifth run thanks to a wild pitch. Cal and Fresno State both went silent after a loud third inning, until the Bulldogs tied the score at eight apiece with another three RBI singles off the arms of Orange and Teperson. In the top of the seventh, Bell added the game winning run to the board with a timely RBI fly out, and De Nava kept Fresno State from responding with a pair of strikeouts to end the game.
Saturday 4-0 (CSU Bakersfield & Fresno State):
In their first game on Saturday, The Golden Bears shutout CSU Bakersfield (9-12 at the time), dominantly run-ruling the Roadrunners 9-0 in six innings. Cal’s path to victory was paved with reliable batting from nearly every Bear that stepped up to the dish, along with a team season high seven stolen bases in one game between baserunners Lagi Quiroga (1), Xiomei Geluz (1), Mika Lee (2), and Holly Medina (3).
The route began slowly, Cal only recording one run each in the second and third innings off an RBI single from Nailyn Marshall in the second, and a run scored off a throwing error after Holly Medina stole third base in the third. However the Bears would tear the lead wide open with a substantial 5 run addition in the fourth to make it 7-0. Acacia Anders and Mia Phillips would each bring in multi-RBI doubles (two for Anders and three from Phillips), placing Cal on the doorstep of the run-rule. Just two innings later, the Bears would cross the finish line in exciting walk-off fashion. In the bottom of the sixth, with one out and Geluz on second, Tianna Bell belted one over the fences for a 2-run walk-off homer.
Ryann Orange was called upon to start in the circle against the Roadrunners, quickly making up for her shakey performance in relief the day before by putting on a show for 5.2 innings. Orange allowed just two hits in the shutout while delivering 2 walks and 6 strikeouts, a stat line reminiscent of her stellar game against Oregon State back in mid-February.
Freshman pitcher Kayla Mashhoud would also get the first nod of her career against CSU Bakersfield, coming in to relieve Orange with two outs in the fifth. Mashhoud completed the shutout without allowing a single hit, three of the four batters she faced popping out, and one grounding out.
The focus on younger players getting opportunities did not end with just Mashhoud, nearly the entire Cal roster got a chance at the plate. Of the seventeen non-pitcher players on Cal’s roster, sixteen had at least one at bat against the Roadrunners. When asked to evaluate how the Bears did, Elon Butler wanted to specifically shout out the freshmen and everyone who contributed for their efforts, which were definitely on full display Saturday. “Watching the non-starters play was really encouraging,” Butler added. “The players that came off the bench did really well and it was good to see them just have fun and be able to play the game.”
Unlike their previous game against the Bulldogs, Cal served up a 7-2 victory in their second game Saturday that was never close.
Starting pitcher Miranda De Nava took to the circle against Fresno State, and threw her fourth complete game of the season, continuing her standout freshman campaign by picking up her sixth win. De Nava allowed just 2 ER on 6 hits and 2 strikeouts, denying the Fresno State offense any runs until the seventh inning. The only score from the Bulldogs arrived with a 2-RBI triple down the right field line with two outs in the final frame before De Nava and the Cal defense put the next batter away on a pop fly to left field.
The Golden Bears offense had another slow start, failing to record a hit or score a run until the third inning. Acacia Anders was able to put Cal on the board in the third with a well timed RBI groundout, sending Lagi Quiroga home from third, however the bats would again fall silent again before exploding into life in the fifth.
Nailyn Marshall began the Bears’ rally with a double to left center, and pinch runner Xiomei Geluz reached home thanks to a sacrifice bunt from Mika Lee getting her to third, and a Bulldog throwing error on the next at bat giving Geluz the opportunity to score. Elon Butler followed up with an RBI single into center field that resulted in her reaching third thanks to another Fresno State throwing error.
The Bulldogs inning of misery did not end there. With Butler on third and Anders on first, Anders ran for second, initiating an ultimately successful double steal as Butler quickly raced home. Another throwing error from Fresno State allowed Anders to reach third. Kaylee Pond and Tiana Bell followed up with consecutive RBI doubles, with Pond scoring Cal’s sixth run and Bell advancing to third thanks to (you guessed it) another throwing error. Fittingly, Bell scored the seventh and final run of the inning off a wild pitch, wrapping up the top of the fifth just one run shy of completing the hat trick for ending games by run-rule. All told, the Fresno State defense committed six errors against the Bears, four of which helped Cal pick up their six runs in the fifth inning.
Sunday 5-0 (Southern Utah)
The final day of competition for the Bears kicked off with a rematch against Southern Utah (5-14 entering play), returning the Bears to where they started back on Friday. Cal once again made quick work of the Thunderbirds, winning their ninth in a row 6-0 in seven innings.
Elon Butler would pick up exactly where she’d left off against Southern Utah, homering on her first at bat to give Cal a 1-0 lead. “I felt great! I mean, anytime you make contact with the ball and it goes long and fast, it just feels great,” said Butler. “It’s always so satisfying.” Sophomore Carly Raven notched her second season hit an inning later, sending a 2-RBI single to right field, and Harmony Andrade–who reached second on a double–would add on another run thanks to a bunt single from Holly Medina and a Thunderbirds throwing error, putting the Bears into a comfortable 4-0 lead.
Butler again added to Cal’s score in the sixth, hitting a single that would score two more runs and advance her all the way to third after another Southern Utah throwing error. Up six in the top of the seventh inning, the Bears defense held strong, finishing off the Thunderbirds with back to back strikeouts from De Nava for the second and third outs.
How we’re doing:
With the fourth and final tournament in the books, Cal softball has started the 2025 season in confident fashion. Sweeping both the three game WIlson invitational and the five game Fresno State Tournament, and taking only two losses each in the Kajikawa Classic and Mary Nutter Collegiate Classic, Cal enters regular season play 15-4 and lurking just outside the top 25. “I felt like we did really great,” commented Butler on Cal’s performance after the Fresno State Tournament. “There’s obviously some things we need to work on–areas of growth–but I was really proud of our offense.” The Bears offense is still firmly their greatest strength. Four Bears with thirty or more at bats are currently above .300 batting averages, Elon Butler and Mia Phillips taking the top two spots with .448 and .396 respectively. Five players are above ten RBI’s on the season, with Butler (18) and Phillips (14) again in the lead.
Cal’s pitching (a point of concern for fans from the start) has certainly improved in the first nineteen games of the season. Pitchers Miranda De Nava and Ryann Orange have been consistent and reliable, the duo each appearing in nine games and starting in five of them. De Nava has put up a stunning six wins in her freshman campaign, while the junior Orange has put up four, and both have thrown 24 strikeouts. Veteran pitchers Anna Reimers and Annabel Teperson have both shown good improvements, recording a string of solid outings each after rocky starts in the Kajikawa and Wilson tournaments. In their last two appearances in the circle, Reimers and Teperson have allowed 0 runs and only 9 hits. While pitching has had some struggles when going to the bullpen in relief (as seen most recently in the first game against Fresno State this past weekend) overall Cal’s pitching corps bends but doesn't often break.
Up next (UC Davis & Boston College)
As of publication, the California Golden Bears will travel north to face off against their younger sister (and my alma mater) the UC Davis Aggies today at 2pm. Cal is looking to pick up their tenth straight victory, while UCD is hoping to pull off an upset and snap their twelve game losing streak. The Bears are currently 34-7 all-time against the Aggies, and while there is no live stream of the game, the live statcast is available here.
Then on Friday, Cal will be hosting Boston College in Berkeley on Friday to open up ACC play. Tickets start at $8, and are available through Cal’s website. The game will be streaming on the ACC Network and ESPN+. This is Cal's second ever meeting with Boston College, the first being a 9-3 Cal win in 2008. Do not miss the chance to watch and support Cal Softball in their home opener, as we begin ACC play!