Owls Win Game #1 Over San Bernardino Valley

Glendora, CA -- The Citrus College Softball, seeded #4 in the CCCAA Southern California Regional Playoffs, played host to #13 seed San Bernardino Valley College on Saturday afternoon in the first game of the best two out of three series. The Owls 11 hits and took advantage of a trio of Wolverine errors to take a 1-0 lead in the series with a 5-1 victory.

Citrus scored from the jump when freshman Stephanie Noriega gave the Owls a 1-0 lead scoring from second when the Wolverines were unable to complete a double-play attempt with their throw from second to third rolling all the way to the visiting dugout. San Bernardino quickly got that run back in the top of the second though when Evangelina Mosqueda singled in Jesikah Fortunato.

The game wouldn't stay tied for very long as the Owl bats began to warm-up in the bottom of the second. Sophomore Sandra "Gaby" Vera got a two-out rally going in that inning with an infield single to the short-stop. Sophomore Kiana "Kalei" Guillermo followed that up by ripping a line drive single down the left field line. The Owls caught another break though, as when the Wolverine left fielder went to play the hit, it bounced off her glove and rolled all the way to the fence allowing both Vera and Guillermo to score.

Leading 3-1, sophomore Erinn Jaramillo gave the Owls a lift in the bottom of the third with a solo home run to right-center field. Freshman Jessica Brown would add an insurance score for the Owls in the bottom of the sixth with a two-out double to left field that plated Guillermo and made it 5-1.

As it turned out, that was more than enough offense for the Owls. Freshman starting pitcher Anissa Gallegos, the Western State Conference Blue Division Pitcher of the Year, was solid in the circle, surrendering six total hits, two walks, the one run, while striking out one. In the win, Gallegos improved to 24-5 on the season.

With the win, Citrus improves to 31-9 on the season, while San Bernardino Valley drops to 26-14. The two schools will square off once again tomorrow afternoon with first pitch set for 12:00 PM. Valley won the coin toss at the end of Saturday's game and will serve as the home team at Citrus College for game two.