Doubled and Downed

Cerritos, CA - The Citrus College Softball team gave up five doubles and committed five errors and were mercy ruled on Friday afternoon in the first game of their best 2-of-3 series with #7 Cerritos College in the opening round of the 2017 CCCAA Southern California Playoffs. The Owls managed just as many hits and they committed errors and fell in five innings 14-4. 

 Things went down hill quickly for Citrus as Cerritos jumped all over the Owls with four runs in the bottom of the first. The Owls struggled just as much in the second, as the Falcons took advantage of a few more Citrus miscues to fall behind 8-0.

The Owls finally got rolling in the top of the third. Freshman Valerie Ortiz roped a double to left field plating freshman Mia Escobar, and then scored after a Falcon error to make it 2-8. Cerritos kept it rolling in the third though, adding three more scores to push their lead to an at that point game high nine runs at 11-2. In the top of the fourth Citrus tried to reverse the momentum back in their favor via a solo shot to right field by sophomore Celine Spathias and a picture perfect bunt by sophomore Karissa Martinez that led to another Cerritos error and allowed freshman Molly Montell to score from third. 

That was all Citrus had in store though, as Cerritos scored three more in the bottom of the fourth, and the Owls couldn't answer the bell in the top of the fifth as they were sent home early for the day. In the loss, Citrus was paced by the effort of Spathias who was 2-for-3.  

Luckily for Citrus, the year is far from over. The Owls gets a chance to redeem themselves tomorrow afternoon with the season on the line. Game #2 is set for a 12:00 PM start with a third game if necessary scheduled for approximately 2:00 PM.