Owls Earn Split In Home Hosted Triangular

Glendora, CA - The Citrus College Softball team played host to a pair of team on Friday night in the form of Pasadena City College and Santa Ana College. The Owls earned a split, falling to Pasadena 6-0 in a lackluster game, before rallying in the last game of the night with a 9-1 six inning win over Santa Ana.

 The first game of the day saw the Owls take on the nearby Lancers. The first three innings featured very little action, with the only base runner in that time frame coming via an Pasadena single in the top of the third. The Lancers would pick up where they left off in the third in the fourth, when they got a one out home run to center field that put them up 2-0. The Owls would try to rally with a two out single, but the rally was quickly snuffed out with a fly out to center field.

Pasadena would threaten again in the fifth, but sophomore Autumn Barthlomy was able to escape any issues. The offense didn't get her any help the rest of the way though, as Citrus no base runners over the final five innings. Unfortunately for the Owls, Pasadena didn't have the same struggles, getting a three-run home run in the top of the sixth and an error aided run in the top of the seventh to reach their six runs. In 22 total at bats, the Owls mustered just one hit against the Lancers, drawing zero walks, and striking out just twice. 

A couple of hours, the Owls returned to the diamond to take on Santa Ana who was coming off a one run loss to Pasadena. The Owls looked like a completely different team recording 16 total hits and committing just one error on defense in a big win for Citrus. 

Citrus' first run would come in the bottom of the second when sophomore pitcher Makaele Moore helped her own cause with an RBI triple to right-center field that plated freshman Karissa Martinez to give the Owls an early 1-0 lead. Santa Ana would tie the game up at 1-1 in the top of the third, but the tie didn't last long, as the Owls rallied with four runs in the bottom of the third.

Barthlomy started the rally in the bottom of the third with an RBI infield single that scored freshman Alyssa Rodriguez. One at bat later, freshman Karissa Martinez roped a double to left-center field that brought in freshmen Jade Nua and Celine Spathias to make it 4-1. The Owls weren't done though as Martinez scored from third on some heads up base running, putting Citrus up 5-1 on a wild pitch.

Two innings later, the Owls added insurance run on a Santa Ana error to go up 5-1 in the bottom of the fifth. In the bottom of the sixth, Citrus finished up the long day when Spathias double to right-center to score sophomore Haley Gomez and Nua homered to right field with Spathias standing on second base to end the game an inning early. 

In the win, Moore (2-1) went six innings, scattering six hits, three walks, and one earn run while striking out four. Martinez finished 3 for 3 with 2 runs and 2 RBIs, while Nua was 3 for 4 with a pair of runs and a pair of RBI's. 

With the win and the loss, Citrus moves to 2-5 on the season. The Owls will take the next week off before resuming play on Friday February 26th with a pair of games against Long Beach City College and San Diego City College. The first game against the Vikings is schedule for a 4:00 PM start, while the Owls will take on the Knights at approximately 6:00 PM.