Owls Settle for Split at Canyons

Santa Clarita, CA -- For about two hours, the Citrus College Softball team was back on top of the Western State Conference Blue Division standings. The Owls hit the road on Tuesday to take on College of the Canyons in a show down of the top two teams in the WSC Blue. Citrus took the first game 8-6 to pull even with the Cougars in the standings, but surrendered a 4-0 lead in the bottom of the seventh game in game number two, falling 5-4.

In the first game, Citrus hit Canyons with their best shot to start the game off. Freshman Raven Preseau blasted a two RBI single as did sophomore Alyssa Lozano, and before the Cougars even knew what hit them, the Owls had a 4-0 lead. Canyons wasn't going to go away quietly though, and they bided their time getting back into the game.

Canyons cut the lead to one with a three spot in the bottom of the third, and then scored a single run in the fourth to tie the game up at four runs each. The Owls rallied with four more runs over the final three innings though as they jumped out to a four run lead, thanks to RBI's from Preseau in the fifth, Moore in the sixth, and Lozano and Moore again in the seventh. It was enough for the Owls to cling on to as they held the Cougars to a final pair of scores just before game's end.

In the second game, it looked like it was going to be a similar story. Citrus got on the board in the top of the third via an RBI double from sophomore Victoria Baltazar. Back to back solo jacks from Moore and freshman Erinn Jaramillo pushed it to 3-0 in the top of the fifth. For good measure, freshman Valeria Velasquez drove in Citrus' last run in the top of the seventh thanks to a bases loaded RBI walk that put Citrus up 4-0 and looking for just three outs.

Those three outs never came. The Cougars drew a walk to lead off the inning, and then after a fly out, got back to back singles to load up the bases. A walk, a hit by pitch, another walk, and a double later, the Cougars won the game.

With the win and the loss, Citrus moves to 21-11 on the year and 12-3 in WSC Blue Division play. The Owls stay a game back of Canyons in the standings, and have another important road contest on Thursday at Antelope Valley College.