Citrus Blanks LA Valley

Citrus College exploded on offense to grab an 8-0, six-inning blanking over LA Valley – its first shutout of the season.

The Owls improve to 13-21 on the year, 5-4 in Western State Conference-East action. The Monarchs drop to 6-20 overall and 0-8 in conference.

After a scoreless first inning, Citrus got on the board in the bottom of the second after Patty Rodriguez (3-for-4) led off with a double and made her way to third. Erica Pineda followed with another double to send Rodriguez home. The Monarchs managed to get two outs, but with runners on the corners, Citrus successfully completed a double steal as Jillian Walker (2-for-3) stole second and Jaidyn Harris stole home to put the Owls up 2-0.

Citrus tacked on two more runs in the fourth after Grace Kassotis came home on a Tatiana Figueroa (2-for-4) base hit and a fielder's choice plated Walker, 4-0.

The Owls put the game away for good in the bottom of the sixth. Rebekah Rudder came home on another RBI single from Figueroa before Mia Godoy (4-for-4) singled through the left side to send Walker home.

Needing just two runs to put the run rule into play, the Owls loaded the bases and Rodriguez doubled to the gap just left of center to send two runners in, giving Citrus the 8-0 walk-off run-rule victory.

Harris finished with six strikeouts in the circle for Citrus, grabbing her ninth win of the year and first shutout.

The Owls take on Antelope Valley College – which sits above Citrus in the WSC-East standings – on Thursday on the road at 2:30 p.m.