Softball Earns Two Victories in Dramatic Fashion

It was a flare for the dramatic at Evans Sports Complex on Saturday as the Riverside City College softball team took to its home diamond for a pair of non-conference matchups against the Sacramento City College Panthers and the College of the Canyons Cougars. The Tigers rode a strong pitching outing from sophomore starter Synphony Hall (Rialto, CA) to defeat the Sacramento City, 2-0. They followed their morning victory with a dramatic 7-5 walk off win over the Cougars. Sophomore catcher Aerial Carlson (Highland, CA) launched a two-run bomb in the bottom of the seventh inning to secure a 7-5 win.

Game One

It was all quiet on the offensive front for the Tigers until the top of the sixth inning when freshman right fielder Kaylen Gomez (Riverside, CA) reached base on a two-out single. She promptly put herself in scoring position by swiping second with sophomore center fielder Megan Cartwright (Corona, CA) at the dish. Cartwright came through with a base knock to left field scoring Gomez to grab the lead.

The Tigers were not done as sophomore shortstop Kailee Gilbert (Moreno Valley, CA) tacked on an insurance run by pulling a single down the left-field line to score Cartwright and snag a 2-0 lead.

Hall, after blanking the Panthers through the opening six frames, gave up a leadoff single to Sac City in the top of the second, but nothing else en route to a 2-0 victory.

Hall traveled the distance while striking out three batters and scattering five hits. Freshman first baseman Jocelyn Ontiveros (Riverside, CA) and Gilbert each barreled two hits.

Game Two

The Tigers got off to a slow start in the beginning of the contest against College of the Canyons after allowing four runs due in part to a handful of defensive miscues and faced an early 4-0 deficit.

However, RCC began to chip away at the lead by scratching across a run in the bottom of the third inning. Cartwright, who lead off the inning via walk, came around to score on a single up the middle from sophomore third baseman Terri Nava (Yucca Valley, CA).

Riverside capitalized off a crucial error on the College of the Canyons' shortstop and found themselves with the bases loaded and two outs in the bottom of the fourth inning. Down two strikes, Gilbert connected for a bases-clearing double to score three runs. Nava followed by driving a single through the left side to score Gilbert and grab a 5-4 led.

However, the Cougars worked to regain the lead in the bottom of the fifth inning to bring the score to 5-5.

Hall, who entered into the fifth inning, blanked the Cougar offense in the sixth and seventh innings to put the Tigers in a great position on offense.

Nava lead off the inning by reaching base via drop-third strike to hand sophomore catcher Aeriel Carlson (Highland, CA) an opportunity to end the game.

Carlson dug into the box and had no intention of the contest going into extra innings. She loaded and drove a fast ball over the left-center wall for a two-run jack to seal a 7-5 victory.

Carlson's lone hit was the walk off bomb for her second round-tripper of the season. Gilbert and Nava each barreled two hits, while Hall picked up the victory after chucking three innings and fanning four.

The Tigers (3-1) will take on Southwestern on Wednesday, February 7^th at 3 p.m. at home.