From High to Low

Glendora, CA -- The Citrus College Softball team experienced the entire range of emotions on Wednesday afternoon and evening when they hosted Golden West College and San Diego Mesa College in a triangular. The Owls opened up the day with a high, a mercy rule 10-2 win over Golden West, and then went to the low end in an extremely close 5-6 loss to San Diego Mesa College.

In the opener, the Owls went to work right away, scoring a pair of runs in the first, one off an RBI triple from sophomore Bre Lockett and the second thanks to an RBI groundout from freshman Sara Moore. In the third, the Owls tacked on two more, getting an RBI single from Moore, a fielder's choice RBI from sophomore Rebecca Ireland, and a two RBI double up the left field line from sophomore Veronica Ramirez that made it 6-0.

The offense rolling, freshman Arianna Sanchez was fulfilling her end of the bargain in the circle. Sanchez gave up just two hits in the first five innings of the game and was lights out not allowing a single run in those first five innings.

The Owls got another run in the bottom of the fifth when freshman Kawehi Ephan smashed her third home run of the year over the left field fence to make it 7-0 headed into the sixth. In the sixth, The Rustlers would get on the board, when an error extended their life and eventually led to a home run to center field Citrus' lead to five.

That wouldn't last long though as Moore drove in a run on a sacrifice fly to center field to make it 8-2. With a runner still on first, Ephan came to the plate and for the second straight at bat and second straight game ended things with a bomb to right center field that put the game at the final number of 10-2.

The second game would prove to be a little tighter. The Owls started things off well enough getting a run in the bottom of the first thanks to an RBI single from sophomore Shyann Ramirez that staked them an early 1-0 lead. That wouldn't last long though as Mesa rallied with a pair of scores in the top of the second that put them on top 2-1.

Citrus kept putting runners on the bases, but came up empty in each of the second and third innings. In the top of the fourth the Olympians tacked on another run that put them up 3-1. In the bottom of the fourth, the Owls finally pushed in some runs when Moore hit a two RBI double that knotted the game up at three runs each.

The score would stay there until San Diego Mesa came up with three runs in the top of the seventh inning. Down to their final three outs, the Owls nearly clawed all the way back. Ephan got the first RBI of the bottom half of the inning when she was hit for the third time in the game with the bases loaded that cut Citrus' deficit to two.

Shyann Ramirez would follow that up with a ground out RBI that made it 5-6 Citrus, but the out also put the Owls down to their final out. Despite their best efforts the Owls came up short as Veronica Ramirez grounded out to end the game 5-6.

With the win and the loss, Citrus moves to 2-1 on the year. The Owls will try and get back on the winning side on Friday when they head to Orange County to take on Santiago Canyon College at 2:00 PM.