Late Runs Doom Owls Again

Walnut, CA -- The Citrus College Softball team had another tough outing late on Tuesday afternoon when they travelled to Mt. San Antonio College. The Owls trailed by a single run after the fifth inning, but a four run outburst by the Mounties in the bottom of the sixth doomed the Owls, 6-1.

Mt. SAC would stake themselves to an early 2-0 lead, scoring twice in the top of the first inning, including one thanks to a fielding miscue by Citrus. Never the less, the Owls battled, trying to work their way back into the game and finally breaking through in the top of the fifth.

Sophomore Makaele Moore would lead the inning off with a single, followed two at bats later by a one out walk from freshman Celine Spathias. Sophomore Kali Smith followed that up with a single that loaded up the bases. After a line out by the Owls, freshman Jade Nua came to the plate with two away. Nua hit an RBI single, scoring Moore on the play, but Spathias would be thrown out at home trying to score the game tying run.

Six outs later, the Owls let the first Mountie batter of the bottom of the sixth reach base via an error. After that, Mt. SAC went double, single, groundout, double, and single to score four times, before freshman Grazia Watkins was able to come in and get a pair of groundouts to end the inning.

In the top of the seventh, Spathias would draw a one out walk, but the rally never got past that as the next two batters struck out and flew out to right field to end the game.

With the loss, Citrus drops to 0-4 on the young season. Citrus' road doesn't get any easier as they open up their 2016 home schedule on Thursday afternoon against State #10 and SoCal #5 El Camino College, four their fifth straight game against a team ranked in the State Top 11 to start the season.