Box Score Facing brutal conditions and the #3 team in the NAIA, Cal State San Marcos Softball played quite admirably, but fell 4-2 on Thursday to Point Loma. The loss drops CSUSM to 5-4 on the season. Game two was scheduled, but rained out. The cold, rainy weather would play a big factor in the game, as the teams combined for five errors. Though the teams scored a total of six runs, just two were earned. Melissa Lerno started for CSUSM, and gave a gutsy performance against a very formidable lineup. She allowed 8 hits and 3 walks in 5 innings of work, but surrendered just 3 runs (1 earned). Point Loma got on the board first, scoring a pair of runs in the third. After a one-out walk, Paige Powell hit a single to left, and an error on the leftfielder allowed the run to come all the way around to score. Powell herself would get to third, and cross the plate on another single. But the Cougars wouldn’t go down quietly, and though Point Loma scored another run on an error in the fourth, CSUSM would fight back. Holly Russell knocked a one-out single in the fifth, then stole second. A Shanti Poston single put runners at the corners, and after a pop-up, Karen Morizi came up in a crucial spot. Morizi dropped down a surprise bunt, and was able to beat it out. A throwing error by the pitcher let the runners advance, and another error allowed Poston to score, making the game 3-2. But that would be as close as the Cougars got. Lerno was relieved by Brenna Sandberg in the sixth, and Point Loma tallied an insurance run in the seventh. CSUSM couldn’t get anything else going off Point Loma starter Melissa Gomez, who went the full seven to pick up her first win of the season. Despite the loss, the strong showing against such a highly-ranked team is another building block for this young Cougar squad. They’ll be in action again on Saturday, when they’ll face off against Occidental on the road.