The Hard Way

Riverside, CA -- The Citrus College Softball team will just have to do things the hard way this weekend after a 4-2 loss to #1 Riverside City College on Friday night. The Owls had opportunities on Friday, but just couldn't cash them in, as they dropped to the elimination portion of the bracket in their Super Regional.

Citrus seemingly picked up where they left off last weekend, opening up the game with a pair of singles from Angela Aguinaga and Sara Moore in the top half of the first inning. Alas, the Owls left them sitting on the bases, as they had to wait until midway through the game to put a run on the board.

Riverside didn't wait as long. The Tigers drove in a run in the bottom of the sixth with an RBI groundout to take a 1-0 lead. Riverside extended it in the bottom of the third when Natalie Barrios led the inning off with a solo home run.

Trailing 2-0, Citrus didn't push a run across until the fourth inning, despite having ducks on the pond in each of the first three innings. The Owls' first score came when sophomore Bre Lockett hit a rocket over the left-center field fence to cut the Riverside lead in half.

Unfortunately, Barrios put more distance between the Tigers and Owls in the bottom of the fifth when she launched her second home run of the game and 22nd of the year to make it 3-1 Riverside. The Tigers grabbed another insurance run in the bottom of the sixth, and went into the top of the seventh up 4-1.

Down to their final three outs, freshman Kawehi Ephan gave the Owls some signs of life with a solo blast to left-center that made it 2-4. Freshman Sara Moore would get on base in the next at bat, after getting hit on a 3-2 pitch. After freshman Raeleen Tellez struck out swinging, Lockett drew a two out walk to put even more pressure on Riverside with runners on first and second and two outs. Citrus just wasn't able to get it done though, as sophomore Rebecca Ireland went down swinging on three straight strikes.

With the loss, Citrus falls to 26-13 overall while Riverside improves to 39-3. The Owls are not out of it yet, but will need to win four straight games between Saturday and Sunday if they are to advance to the State Championships for the first time in program history. That quest starts tomorrow at 5:30 PM in Riverside, when Citrus takes on Santiago Canyon College in an elimination game.