University of California Athletics

March 24, 2013

Box Score

BERKELEY -

Jolene Henderson pitched her way to the top of the California record book Sunday as the Golden Bears topped Utah 4-1 at home on Levine-Fricke Field to sweep their first Pac-12 series of 2013. The senior earned win No. 120 to pass Michele Granger (119 wins) in all-time pitching wins.

"We've had a number of All-American pitchers here at Cal that have pitched at the Olympic level and the USA level, and here comes Jolene and she has now broken the mark to be the all-time winningest pitcher. That is a phenomenal accomplishment by a great player and a great team player. I know that Jolene will never take credit for all 120 wins because she's the type of player that believes the team is who wins the game, and it is the team who wins, but she has certainly played a great part with 120 wins behind her on the mound," said California head coach Diane Ninemire. "We look forward to a few more wins and finishing strong and I just want to congratulate her on one of the most accomplished awards that one could win."

Henderson earned her 120th win using five strikeouts while allowing one walk and just one run with five hits to bring her ERA to 0.94 for the season. Her current career record stands at a 1.22 ERA with 120 wins, 26 losses and nine saves in 125 games started and 166 games played. Henderson has pitched 972 innings with 1,016 strikeouts.

"The best part about it is that my team has won all these games. I've never won a game all by myself but Cal has had so many people put in so much energy in to all these wins in all these four years here. It all plays a part," Henderson said. "It was cool to win with the team and win our first series and that was what was important."

The entire team played well behind Henderson on Sunday, notching seven hits. Sophomore Cheyenne Cordes topped off her weekend of great at-bats by going 3-for-4 with three RBI and a run. Throughout the series, she totaled eight hits, including one home run, in 11 at-bats for a .727 average. Senior Lindsey Ziegenhirt went 1-for-1 with two walks and an RBI, bringing her weekend total to .714 (5-for-7) with a double, two home runs and six RBI.

The Utes used their third and final member of the pitching staff, Kayce Nieto, to stifle the Bears but to no avail. Nieto tossed just one strikeout but allowed seven hits and four walks.

Both teams went scoreless through 2.5 innings until the bottom of the third when freshman Khala Taylor singled to third base, then stole second with Cordes at the plate. Cordes then homered to tack on two runs for the Golden Bears. In the next sequence of plays, junior Ashley Decker walked to first and advanced to second on a wild pitch before crossing home on a single to right center by Ziegenhirt.

Utah's offense picked up some slack at the top of the fourth as all six batters found a way to reach base, but the Utes totaled just one run thanks to the Bears' quick arms and two putouts at home by Ziegenhirt. Utah's Kelsi Hoopiiaina scored the lone run after catcher Shelby Pacheco singled to third base.

Cal added its final run at the bottom of the sixth thanks again to Cordes. Freshman Vanessa Alvarez singled to right field, and on the next play with Taylor batting, an error by the second baseman allowed Taylor to reach first and advance to second on the throw all while Alvarez advanced to second and then third on another error, this time by the Utah third baseman. With runners in scoring position, Cordes singled to left field and Alvarez touched the dish to bring the score to four runs.

In their first outing against a Pac-12 opponent, the Golden Bears finished with a .350 batting average while holding Utah to .208. The team combined for four home runs and 19 RBI while holding Utah to just five total runs. In addition to Ziegenhirt and Cordes, Taylor, sophomore Danielle Henderson and Alvarez also had strong showings at the plate. Taylor went 4-for-9 (.444) for two runs and two RBI, D. Henderson went 3-for-7 (.429) with a home run and three RBI, and Alvarez went 3-for-9 (.333) with three runs, a double and three RBI.

"I thought we had an outstanding showing this weekend against Utah. Our defense was stellar and our bats really came alive this weekend. We had a number of great hits and scored a number of runs. I think we're looking good after our first weekend of Pac-12 competition," Ninemire said.

Jolene Henderson's 120 Wins

Note: In preparation for this special occasion, CalBears.com went through all game records from 2010 through present to verify these wins. Though some inconsistencies were present, the records have been updated with the correct total listed below.