Mean Celine

Glendora, CA - With the Owls needing a win to keep pace for second place in the WSC Blue Division on Thursday afternoon when Citrus hosted Bakersfield College, they got just thought thanks in large part to the play of freshman Celine Spathias who had a mean day with the bat. Spathias went 4 for 4 with two doubles, a triple, a single, and most importantly two RBIs, the second of which won the game for Citrus in the bottom of the seventh 3-2.

On an overcast and soggy day, the two teams traded missed opportunities through the first two innings, with Bakersfield stranding four total base runners through the first two innings and Citrus three. While the Owl defense and sophomore starting pitcher Makaele Moore stranded another Renegade runner in the top of the third, Citrus finally broke through in the bottom half of the inning.

After sophomore Haley Gomez led off the inning with a double to right field, sophomore Kali Smith sacrificed her to third base. That brought up Spathias who promptly tripled to left bringing in Gomez. On the next play, Bakersfield would be charged with an error, allowing Spathias to score from third and putting the Owls on top 2-0.

With an early deficit Bakersfield continued to put pressure on the Owls, finally breaking through and tying the game up in the top of the fifth. After that slip-up though, Moore settled down and the Owls defense made a number of slick plays including Spathias picking off a potential go-ahead Renegade run at third base in the top of the sixth.

As the game headed to the bottom of the seventh, with the score still knotted up at two, Gomez again came up with a big leadoff play with a single back up the middle of the field on a 3-2 count. Smith would follow that up with a bunt single that put runners on first and second and brought Spathias to the plate for the fourth time in the game. Spathias promptly laced the first pitch she saw down the right field line and over the right fielder's head to plate Gomez and give the Owls the 3-2 win.

With the win, Citrus improves to 13-19 overall and more importantly 8-5 in WSC Blue play, tied with Bakersfield for second place and a half game ahead of both LA Valley and Antelope Valley who are in third. The Owls will try and keep some positive momentum going on Tuesday when they travel to first place College of the Canyons for a conference double-header with the Cougars. Game one is set for a 1:00 PM first pitch in Santa Clarita, CA.