Riverside Relies on Long Ball in Win over Southwestern

The Riverside City College softball team found themselves in an early pitcher's dual against the Southwestern College Jaguars with freshman starter Riley Peckels (Moreno Valley, CA) leading the way in the circle. After a slow start on offense, the Tigers broke through in the bottom of the fourth inning by plating four runs and never looked back en route to a 6-2 victory.

Peckels was very efficient in the first four innings by blanking the Jaguars and allowing just two hits. However, Southwestern's starter matched Peckels' efforts to form an early pitcher's dual through the opening three frames.

Nevertheless, Riverside broke through in the bottom of the fourth inning beginning with a solo, opposite field jack from sophomore catcher Aeriel Carlson (Highland, CA) to put them on the board. The homerun ball became contagious as freshman designated player Lorena Fitch (Corona, CA) followed by launching a three-run bomb three batters later, scoring freshman second baseman Brianna Ceballos (Ontario, CA) and freshman first baseman Jocelyn Ontiveros (Riverside, CA), to grab a 4-0 lead.

The Tigers added two more insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth inning with sophomore pinch hitter A'loni Appleton (Rialto, CA) driving a single through the left side to score sophomore left fielder Dayna Gutierrez (Hemet, CA) and freshman pinch runner Jasmine Rodriguez (Mira Loma, CA) leading to a 6-2 victory.

Peckels (1-1) picked up the victory in her third start, while sophomore reliever Synphony Hall (Rialto, CA) came in and tossed 2.2 innings and earned the save.

Fitch and Carlson provided the power by each hitting homeruns with Fitch recording three RBI and scoring one run. For Carlson, she has homered in three-straight games. Ceballos went a perfect 2-for-2 with two doubles and a walk.

The Tigers (4-1) will hit the road on Saturday, February 10^th and face off against Allan Hancock College at 1 p.m.