Owls Drop Opener of Super Regional

San Marcos, CA -- The Citrus College Softball team's aspirations of qualifying for their first ever State Championship took a big hit on Saturday afternoon when the Owls dropped their opener of the Super Regional to #5 El Camino College 2-7.

El Camino jumped on the Owls early putting up a pair of runs in the top of the first. The Warriors very first batter got on via an error by Citrus. Four pitches later, El Camino's Kristen Romero sent a ball over the left field fence to put the Warriors on top 2-0.

Trailing early, Citrus' offense sputtered through the first half of the game. The Owls got just two base runners in the first three innings when freshman Stephanie Noriega reached base via an El Camino error in the first and freshman Autumn Bartholomy drew a walk in the second.

While the Owls' bats didn't have much going for them early on, El Camino was the opposite. The Warriors had a big inning in the top of the fifth, when they struck for five runs getting back to back two RBI singles from Gabby Fordiani and Reina Trejo and then a one RBI single from Jacqueline Gonzalez to make it 7-0.

Citrus finally got a little bit going in the bottom of the fifth. With two outs and runners on first and second, freshman Jessica Brown roped a single to left-center that plated freshman Valerie Velasuez, but a base running miscue on that same play led to the third out of the inning, effectively killing the rally.

The Owls and Bartholomy, who took over the circle in the top of the fifth, slowed down the Warriors over the final two innings, holding them without a run. Citrus got a small spark in the bottom of the seventh when freshman Kaitlyn Garza laced a one-out double to center field, followed by another El Camino error that allowed Garza to score. That was it for Citrus though as they were sent to the elimination bracket on Sunday.

With the loss, Citrus drops to 32-10 on the season. The Owls aren't yet eliminated from playoff competition, but can not lose again. Citrus' next test, comes tomorrow at 2:00 PM when the Owls take on Cerritos College.