THOUSAND OAKS, CA—Junior Jessica Wilcox (Forestville, NY/Pine Valley) surpassed 200 career strikeouts on Tuesday while the Saxons dropped back-to-back games to the Regals of California Lutheran.
 
Wilcox, who broke the program record for strikeouts in a season during the 2017 season (150), surpassed 200 career strikeouts during the first game of the day-three doubleheader with Cal Lutheran. She finished the day with 12 total strikeouts between the two games, moving to 208 career strikeouts. She is only eight strikeouts away from moving into the top-five strikeouts in program history. Shannon Schaefer '18 is currently fifth in program history with 215 career strikeouts.
 
The AU offense struggled to get runners across the play on Tuesday, leaving 19 runners on base between the two games. Overall, the Saxons had 15 hits leading to six runs scored.
 
Game One
The Regals were the first on the board, scoring twice in the second inning. The Saxons attempted to get on the board in the top of the third following first-year Ashley Lugo (Hesperia, CA/Oak Hills) stealing second and third. However, AU was unable to push the speedster to home.
 
The Saxons got on the board in the fifth inning when first-year Tati Mejia (North Hills, CA/John F. Kennedy) started the inning with a walk. Junior Elena Ceja (Redondo Beach, CA/Redondo Beach) pushed Mejia to third, setting senior Becca Alexander (Middletown, DE/Middletown) up for an RBI double to left center. Sophomore Sydney Saucedo (Whittier, CA/La Serna) singled to shortstop, moving Alexander to third on the next at-bat, but AU was unable to score with the inning coming to a halt two batters later. The Regals maintained the lead to the victory, 2-1.
 
Game Two
The game started slow as both teams combined for one hit in the first two innings. Finally, AU started the scoring when junior Jillian Murray (Eden, NY/Eden) doubled to left center to begin the inning. High school teammate Kelly Staub (Eden, NY/Eden) hammered a laser down the right field line, scoring Murray. Slap-hitter, Saucedo, followed suit with a triple, collecting Staub as an RBI. First-year Allison O'Toole joined the hit parade, blasting a shot up the middle, scoring Saucedo. Senior Lu Krawczyk (West Seneca, NY/West Seneca West) rounded out the RBI string, doubling to left center and scoring O'Toole who had previously stole second. Following the third, AU had a 4-0 lead.
 
The Saxons tacked on another run in the fourth inning when Staub caught another pitch on the nose, sending it to right center and scoring first-year Alyssa Guitron (San Bernardino, CA/Cajon). However, the Regals had the final word, scoring three runs in the bottom of the fourth, two in the fifth and one in the sixth to overtake the lead, 6-5, for the win.
 
Wilcox pitched 9.2 innings on the day allowing three earned runs on 12 hits. Murray pitched 2.1 innings in game two, allowing one earned run on five hits.
 
The Saxons are back in action on Wednesday when they travel to Chapman University for day four of the Spring Break trip funded by Saxon Nation.