With the most wins in the state, any loss by the College of San Mateo softball team makes for a big headline.

On Tuesday, the Bulldogs traveled to San Jose City College and suffered their third Coast Conference loss, 2-1. San Jose scored a run in the bottom of the seventh inning off of the state’s winningest pitcher, Michelle Pilster, to pick up its 10th conference victory.

The Bulldogs, at 9-3, are still two games up of Foothill College in the North Division. San Jose and Cabrillo College are tied atop the South Division with 10-2 records.

San Jose got on the board first with a run in the opening frame. The Bulldogs tied the game in the fourth after Pilster got on board and Katie Tam doubled her home.

But as it’s been the case for CSM in game where they’ve lost, leaving runners stranded on base is the Bulldogs’ Achilles heel. On Tuesday, the Bulldogs left eight runners on base.

Pilster was solid in the circle again, allowing just five hits to a team that came into the game with a .405 batting average — good for fourth in Northern California.

But one of those hits happened to come at the worst possible time.