Softball Snaps Three Game Skid Behind Powerful Offense

A seven-run bottom of the third inning led the Riverside City College softball team to a dominant 10-2, five inning victory over the Golden West College Rustlers in Orange Empire Conference (OEC) action on Friday afternoon. The Tigers banged out 11 hits and rode a strong pitching performance to snap a three-game losing streak.

The Rustlers struck first by plating a run in the top of the first inning, but that was the lone deficit Riverside faced. The Tigers got the run back in the bottom of the second inning after freshman catcher Cassidy Cooper barreled a single through the left side, scoring freshman designated player Chloe Lockhart.

The Tigers followed with a monster inning in the bottom of the third as an outpouring of seven runs distanced themselves from Golden West.

Sophomore second baseman Sarah Franco-Colis drove in the first run on a bases-loaded single to center field, scoring freshman shortstop Adrianna Montalvo who reached on a leadoff two-bagger. Sophomore first baseman Alicia Fitzgerald backed her with an infield single, allowing sophomore center fielder Sophia Franco-Colis to touch home. The melee continued as Cooper struck again and drove a two-RBI single through the left side to score Sa. Franco-Colis and Lockhart.

Freshman right fielder Brooklyn Corns kept the offensive train chugging with an RBI ground out to the shortstop, backed by a single through the right side compliments of freshman left fielder Destinee Gonzales. A. Montalvo capped the inning with her second hit of the frame, this time by the way of a single to left field, scoring Gonzales leading to an 8-1 lead.

Lockhart entered the circle in the top of the third inning and went unscathed despite allowing one walk. She followed by blanking the Rustlers the following inning which featured one punch out.

The Tigers added two insurance runs in the bottom of the fourth as freshman defensive replacement and left fielder Alyssa Carlisle launched a one out jack over the center field wall, scoring Lockhart, leading to a 10-2 win.

Cooper went 2-for-3 with three RBI and a run scored to pace the offense. Fitzgerald went a flawless 2-for-2 at the dish, while Carlisle recorded her first career home run.

Lockhart (4-5) earned the victory in relief by tossing two innings and allowing just a mere run while fanning two batters. Freshman starting pitcher Erika Gibbs chucked two effective innings by allowing just one run while scattering four hits.