Owls Take Two From LA Mission

Glendora, CA - The Citrus College Softball team, ranked #11 in the latest State Coaches Poll, picked up a pair of wins in WSC South play on Tuesday afternoon. The Owls beat visiting Los Angeles Mission College 7-0 and 11-3 in six-innings. 

 In the opening tilt, there was no scoring for six of the six and a half innings of play. Mission was held scoreless by freshman Danielle Dominguez (12-4) who pitched a gem, giving up just four hits, no walks, and obviously no runs while striking out three Eagle batters. The Owls meanwhile didn't get their offense rolling until the bottom of the fifth inning. 

In the bottom of the fifth freshman Mia Escobar would drive in the first run via a bases loaded walk. Sophomore Jade Nua would follow that up with a RBI single to right, while freshman Valerie Ortiz cleared the bases with a grand slam. The inning wasn't over though, as sophomore Celine Spathias hit a solo shot to make it 7-0. 

Ortiz would finish the opening contest 1-for-2 with a run and 4 RBIs, while the only Owl to garner more than one hit would be freshman Molly Montell who went 2-for-3. 

In the second game, it didn't take Citrus nearly as long to get their offense going. Montell would rip a triple to right field, and freshman Seanna Jimenez would belt a double to the same spot to give Citrus a 2-0 lead after one. In the second, sophomore Karissa Martinez would hit an RBI single back up the middle of the field, while sophomore Jade Nua would hit her 11th long fly of the year, tying her for second most in a single season for the Owls, to make it 5-0. 

LA Mission would rally with a pair of scores in the top of the third, but Citrus had an answer in the bottom of the fourth thanks to an RBI double by freshman Mia Escobar and an RBI single by Montell made it 7-2. Mission got one more in the top of the fifth, but an RBI double by freshman Alyssa Roman and RBI double by Nua in the bottom of the fifth along with RBIs from Preciado and Roman in the bottom of the sixth ended the game an inning early for the Owls. 

In Game #2, Nua would finish 3-for-4 with two runs and three RBIs, while Montell was 3-for-4 with two runs and an RBI. Freshman Vanessa Garcia (4-6) got the win, scattering seven hits, three unearned runs, and no walks against four strikeouts in six innings of work. With the two wins, Citrus improves to 18-11 overall and 7-3 in WSC South play. The Owls will take a break from conference play on Thursday when they host San Bernardino Valley College (13-12) at 3:00 PM.