The Dutch national women's softball team posted a 6-1 win over Providence College then a 6-4 victory over Cal State Bakersfield, then CSUB blanked Providence in a 4-0 rain-shortened game to highlight the first day of action at the UC Davis Invitational at La Rue Field Friday.

The host Aggies did not play in Friday's action. They are scheduled to open Saturday's slate with a 9 a.m. game against the Roadrunners.

In Friday's finale, CSUB capitalized on two Friar errors in a two-run fourth inning to take a 2-0 lead. In the fifth, senior Pikake Nutter-Gaudet laced a triple to left center, then scored in a single by sophomore Kelli Bailey. With Bailey's pinch runner, Chelsey Bell, waiting on first, a heavy rain drenched the Aggie softball venue. The umpires halted the game, then later officially called the contest when the field was rendered unplayable.

Brittany Johnson earned the win for the Roadrunners, allowing just three hits in five complete. Nutter-Gaudet, Bailey and senior Bethany Snow each had two hits for CSUB. Friar junior Alisha Levin took the loss, surrendering seven hits and four runs (two earned) in her four innings of work.

The Dutch national team, competing in the first of two America road trips in preparation for the 2008 Olympic Games, opened the tourney with a win over Providence Friday morning. The Netherlands put up five of its six runs in the fourth inning, helped by a leadoff triple by Noemi Boekel and a two-run single off the bat of Jolanda Kroesen. Both Boekel and Kroesen play for the Sparks Haarlem club team.

Another Sparks Haarlem standout, Kim Kluijskens, rapped a two-run single in the third inning against CSUB, helping the Dutch team ignite a 6-1 lead through five innings. The 'Runners rallied with a run in the sixth, then doubles by seniors Bethany Snow and Cara Klein aided in touching Netherlands lefty Anouk Mels for two runs in the seventh. Mels, who pitched for the Dutch national team in the 1996 Summer Games in Atlanta, coaxed a final Roadrunner groundout to seal the win.

The UC Davis Invitational continues through Sunday. A tournament home page is located at http://ucdavisaggies.cstv.com/sports/w-softbl/spec-rel/08-ucdavis-invite.html.