Softball Puts Defending State Champs Against the Wall

Cypress, CA -- The Citrus College Softball team put the three time defending State Champs Cypress College up against the wall on Saturday afternoon with a 10-7 win. The Owls now need to win just one game tomorrow afternoon, to advance to the Super Regionals for the first time in program history, after they beat the Chargers in dramatic fashion on Saturday.  

The Owls applied pressure to Cypress from the jump, putting runners on base in each of the seven innings of play. Citrus didn't draw blood though, until the top of the second inning, when sophomore Jessica Gonzalez gave the Owls a 1-0 lead with an RBI single through the right side of the field. Cypress would answer in the bottom half of the inning, tying the game up at one score each, but the Owls already had momentum going their way.

Citrus promptly took the lead back in the top of the third, when freshman Raleen Tellez roped a triple to center field, and then scored two at bats later on a hard hit ball to shortstop from sophomore Carissa Bender, that the Cypress short stop mishandled.

The Owls kept it going in the fourth. Freshman Victoria Baltazar led the inning off with a double up the middle. Baltazar moved to third on a deep fly ball from Gonzalez in the next AB and then scored on a contact play when sophomore Angela Aguinaga hit the ball hard in the infield for a fielder's choice RBI.

In the very next at bat, freshman Kawehi Ephan gave the Owls even more breathing room when she launched a 2-0 pitch over the center field wall. It was a monster shot that would have cleared the center field wall in Angel's Stadium just 15 minutes up the way.

Up 6-1, Citrus kept pressing, loading up the bases in the top of the fifth, and putting a runner on first and second in the top of the sixth. Each time though, the Owls' runners would get stranded, leaving precious runs off the scoreboard. That nearly came back to haunt Citrus as Cypress, which everyone knew had a run in them somewhere, stormed back late in the game.

The Chargers would cut the lead to four with a single score in the fifth, and then blew the doors off the Owls in the bottom of the sixth when they scored five seemingly unanswerable runs to take their first lead of the game 7-6 headed into the final regulation inning.

With their backs against the wall, Citrus responded. Gonzalez got the Owls back into the game with a one out solo home run to left field that knotted the game back up at seven runs each. Citrus wasn't done yet. Following an Owl strikeout, Ephan was intentionally walked with two outs, and freshman Sara Moore drew a walk to put runners on first and second.

Tellez followed that up with a soft single to left field loading the bases up with two outs. That brought sophomore Bre Lockett up to the plate. With the count full, Lockett unleashed on a pitch a little up in the zone, smoking a double to left-center, clearing the base paths, and giving the Owls the lead back 10-7.

Needing three outs, Bender stepped back in the circle for the Owls after taking over for starter Arianna Sanchez in the bottom of the sixth. Bender got the first batter to lineout to second baseman Alyssa Lozano, but then gave up a single to left and let the next batter on after an error. With runners on first and second, Bender bore down and got a groundout double play third base to first base ending the game and putting Citrus in prime position for tomorrow.

In the win, Gonzalez led the way at the plate going 4 for 5. Moore went 2 for 4, same as Lockett, Sanchez, and Baltazar. The Owls will be back out on the diamond in Orange County tomorrow with the first pitch of game two set for noon.