Getting Some Distance

Glendora, CA -- The Citrus College Softball program played host to College of the Canyons on Tuesday afternoon in a crucial Western State Conference Blue Division double-header. The Owls had just a one game lead over the Cougars for first place in the conference, as they headed down the home stretch. The Owls got some distance between themselves and the Cougars as they swept Canyons 7-5 and 5-3.

Citrus wasted very little time in getting down to business on Tuesday afternoon as they dropped five runs on Canyons in the bottom of the first. Freshman Jessica Brown launched the very first pitch of the bottom half of the opening inning over the right-center field fence to make it 1-0. After two of the next three batters got on base, freshman Autumn Bartholomy made it 4-0 with a three-run blast that hit the left field foul pole on a 1-1 pitch. Freshman Sarah Diaz joined the fun with a double to center field that made it 5-0 early.

Despite the opening salvo, the Owls knew the Cougars wouldn't slink away quietly into the cool afternoon. Canyons scored once in the third and twice more in the fourth to pull within a pair of runs at 3-5. Citrus put some more distance between them and their opponent in the bottom of the fifth, when sophomore Kiana "Kalei" Guillermo singled to center field scoring Diaz, and Brown singled through left side of the field scoring sophomore Sandra "Gaby" Vera to make it 7-3.

As it turned out, Citrus needed that cushion as Canyons made one final push with a one out, two run blast in the top of the seventh, but freshman Anissa Gallegos didn't panic and got two fly outs to end the contest.

Game two didn't start off with the same fireworks, but Citrus did score first. It was once again Brown who got things going when she crushed a 1-0 pitch in the bottom of the third over the left field fence. Two at bats later, freshman Stephanie Noriega made it 2-0 taking advantage of a fielding miscue by the Cougars and scoring from second on a fly ball to center field.

The Owls kept it rolling in the bottom of the fourth when Vera hit her first home run of the year, a two-run blast to center field that scored herself and sophomore Valerie Velasquez. Canyons got back into the game though in the top of the fifth with two runs that made it 2-4. In the bottom of the fifth, Citrus got one of those two runs back via an RBI fielder's choice off the bat of Megan Troutman that plated Brown.

In the top of the seventh, Canyons made things interesting by loading up the bases with no outs and their best hitter coming to the plate. The Owls elected to walk said hitter, making it 5-3, and then turned the ball over to Bartholomy to close the game out.

The Canyons hitter would work a full count and then ripped a ball towards third base. Sophomore Erinn Jaramillo slowed it down, but couldn't field it cleanly. Luckily for Citrus, Noriega was there. Noriega picked up the ball and fired it home, beating the runner at the plate, preventing a score and making the first out of the inning. After that Bartholomy induced a pop out and a ground out, both to Noriega to end the day.

With the wins, Citrus improved 24-8 overall and 13-2 in WSC Blue play. With the sweep of Canyons and a split by Antelope Valley with LA Valley, the Owls now hold a three game lead in the WSC Blue Standings with six to go. The road won't be easy, but Citrus does control its destiny starting on Thursday when they host the aforementioned Antelope Valley College Marauders at 2:30 PM.