BearTalk

Valerie Arioto’s school-record 21st home run in the first inning started the top-ranked Golden Bears (47-3, 18-2 Pac-12) on their way to a 4-2 win over Oregon State on Saturday afternoon at Corvallis, Ore.

Freshman Breana Kostreba added her 12th homer of the season, Jace Williams doubled in a run and Victoria Jones knocked home Williams with a single.

Jolene Henderson pitched five innings to improve to 28-1 on the season. She allowed two runs, neither of them earned.

– BASEBALL: Chad Bunting’s three-run homer in the seventh inning helped the Bears (24-19, 8-12 Pac-12) beat host Washington State 9-4 and snap a four-game losing streak. Right-hander Matt Flemer earned his seventh pitching victory and Tony Renda went 3 for 4 at the plate.

For the fifth time this season and the 10th time in her career, Cal junior Jolene Henderson was named Pac-12 Pitcher of the Week after picking up two victories and a save in the top-ranked Bears’ sweep of UCLA.

Henderson is 26-1 with a 1.12 earned run average.

Valerie Arioto broke her own single-season record with her 20th home run and No. 1 Cal (42-3, 13-2 Pac-12) rebounded from a loss the day before with a 10-0 romp at No. 14/18 Oregon (21-11, 9-7).

Ashley Decker hit a 2-run homer and RBI single and Breana Kostreba also homered.

Arioto (Foothill HS-Pleasanton), who homered 19 times last season, now has 51 for her career. She is four home runs shy of the Cal career record of 55, set by Veronica Nelson (2000-03).

Jolene Henderson pitched a 3-hitter with six strikeouts, improving to 24-1 on the season.

– BASEBALL: The Bears (23-15, 7-8) posted a 5-2 win over Utah (10-28, 5-13) to complete a weekend sweep at Evans Diamond and win their fourth game overall.  Cal has won six of seven and has climbed from last place to eighth in the 11-team Pac-12 standings.

Junior left-hander pitched his 22nd career victory and Chad Bunting homered, his third in the series.

The top-ranked Cal women’s softball team (41-2, 12-1 Pac-12) scored five runs in the fourth inning and easily topped Oregon 8-1 at Eugene, Ore.

Jolene Henderson pitched a four-hitter and eight strikeouts while improving to 23-1. Jace Williams included a home run among three hits and drove in four runs and Frani Echavarria doubled home three runs to power the offense.

   – Baseball: Chad Bunting hit two home runs and drove in five runs as the Bears (21-15, 5-8) climbed out of last place in the Pac-12 with a 9-4 home victory over Utah (10-26, 5-11). Andrew Knapp also homered among Cal’s 17 hits.

The Bears, who lead the Pac-12 in errors, played flawlessly in the field for the second straight game.

The top-ranked Cal women’s softball team stepped outside the Pac-12 and toppled Santa Clara 10-2 in five innings to win its 40th game of the season.

Senior Valerie Arioto struck out 13 in five innings and improved to 18-1, while going 2 for 3 with two RBI. Danielle Henderson hit her 13th home run, a three-run shot in the first inning, and Lindsey Ziegenhirt clubbed her first homer of the season.

The top-ranked Bears (33-1, 6-0 Pac-12) pulled off their second straight Pac-12 weekend sweep, beating No. 3 Washington (33-4, 3-3) by scores of 5-3 and 6-4 at Levine-Fricke Field.

Valerie Arioto pitched no-hit ball through five innings, struck out nine batters and improved to  15-0 in the opener. The Bears staked her to a 5-0 lead, sparked by a third-inning home run from Frani Echavarria.

In the second game, Valerie Arioto put the Bears in front 2-0 in the first inning with her 15th home run of the season. Jamia Reid added a two-run single in the second before Victoria Jones and Elia Reid each had RBI doubles in the fifth.

Jolene Henderson struck out 10 batters while improving her record to 18-1.

Meanwhile . . .

   – Baseball: Mitch Delfino homered and had an RBI single and the Bears (16-10) took two of three games from No. 18 Texas (15-11) in Round Rock, Texas. Cal returns to Pac-12 action Thursday for the start of a three-game series at USC.

   – Rugby: The powerhouse Bears started 11 freshmen and four sophomores and scored 20 tries to rout host UC Santa Cruz 128-0. Cal (15-1) has outscored its opponents by a combined margin of 1,045 to 109.

Jace Williams’ two-run, two-out single in the bottom of the seventh inning gave the No. 1 Bears (31-1, 4-0 Pac-12) a 2-1 win over the No. 3 Huskies (32-2, 3-1) in the opener of their three-game series at Berkeley.

Jolene Henderson struck out nine and allowed an unearned run to improve to 17-1 on the season.

Senior Valerie Arioto hit two of Cal’s five home runs and the No. 2-ranked Bears beat No. 9 Stanford 9-0 in the Pac-12 opener at Stanford.

Arioto’s two 2-run blasts give her 13 homers for the season.

Jolene Henderson pitched a three-hit shutout with six strikeouts and no walks for the Bears (26-1, 1-0). Breana Kostreb, Danielle Henderson and Ashley Decker also homered for Cal.

Weather-permitting, the teams will play again Saturday at 1 p.m. at Stanford.

Elsewhere . . .

   – Men’s swimming: Junior Thomas Shields won the 100 butterfly (44.76 seconds) and the 100 backstroke (44.86) and swam on the runnerup 200 medley and 800 freestyle relays as Cal maintained its lead at the NCAA championships.

The Bears have 379.5 points through two days, leading runnerup Texas (343.5) and fourth-place Stanford (277). The meet concludes Saturday.

Stanford freshman Kristian Ipsen of De La Salle HS won the 3-meter diving title with a score of 469.20 points.

The second-ranked Cal softball team (26-1) visits No. 9 Stanford (25-3) on Friday for the first of a three-game weekend series to open Pac-12 play for both teams.

Read my profile on Bears star senior Valerie Arioto, who is batting .450 with 11 home runs and has a 12-0 pitching record with an 0.89 ERA. Not bad, huh?

Cal star Valerie Arioto of Pleasanton’s Foothill High was named Pac-12 softball Player of the Week for the second consecutive week after batting .857 with four home runs and nine RBI as the Bears swept four games at the UNLV Louisville Slugger Classic.

Arioto had a stunning 2.714 slugging percentage and .929 on-base percentage for the four games.