Long Ball Lifts No. 9 Riverside Past Santiago Canyon

The No. 9 Riverside City College softball team took to Orange Empire Conference (OEC) action on Wednesday afternoon by hosting the Santiago Canyon College Hawks. After a tight knit contest that saw zeros across the board through the first three frames, Riverside etched a three spot in the bottom of the fourth inning and never looked back en route to a 4-2 win.

The bats awoke from a slumber in the bottom of the fourth inning compliments of a two-run homerun off the bat of sophomore backstop Aeriel Carlson (Highland, CA), scoring freshman right fielder Kayla Giannatasio (Corona, CA) who led off the inning via walk. Sophomore pinch hitter Terri Nava (Yucca Valley, CA) followed with a single to right-center field to score pinch runner Lorena Fitch (Corona, CA) leading to a 3-0 advantage.

Santiago Canyon trimmed the deficit to 3-2 after a two-run top of the fifth inning. Despite the small comeback attempt, a solo shot from freshman second baseman Breanna Ceballos (Ontario, CA) put the game out of reach leading to a 4-2 victory.

Sophomore starting pitcher Synphony Hall (Rialto, CA) earned the victory after tossing five innings while fanning three batters. Freshman reliever Riley Peckels (Moreno Valley, CA) earned the save after tossing two scoreless innings, not allowing a hit, and fanning a pair batter.

Carlson launched her 10^th homerun of the season off a 1-for-2 day. Ceballos led the team by going 2-for-3 with a solo jack to dead center field.

The Tigers (13-6, 4-2 OEC) will play the Golden West College Rustlers in conference action on the road at 3 p.m.