Walnut, Calif. – The Mt. SAC Women's Softball Team is FIRED UP after their complete two-game shutout over Southwestern in round one of the SoCal Regionals on May 1-2. The Mounties routed the Jaguars 11-0 in five innings on Friday before sealing the deal with a 7-0 victory on Saturday to move on to the next round of playoffs. With the sweep, Mt. SAC improves to 31-11, while Southwestern closes out their season at 22-18.
GAME 1:
Marti Ann Leach opened the scoring with a two-run homer in the bottom of the second that ignited the home crowd and lit a fire under the Mounties. From there, Mt. SAC leaned on disciplined, consistent offense.
RBI singles from Emily Sandoval, Amanda Porterfield, Desiree Morales and Isabella Aspeitia along with a double from Sarai Raygoza powered an offensive surge that triggered the mercy rule after five innings.
In the circle, Zoe Herford was nearly untouchable. She allowed just one hit and one walk while striking out eight across five innings, earning her 17th win of the season.
GAME 2:
Although the Mounties still got away with the shutout, this game wasn't nearly as dominant. First of all, they had to play all seven innings and went through three pitchers to get the job done.
Karissa Blanco got the start in the circle and worked her way out of early trouble, tossing 2.2 scoreless innings while allowing three hits. Izel Avalos followed with a steady 3.1 innings of relief, giving up just one hit. Vanessa Hawks closed out the game, striking out two of the three batters she faced to help secure the win and the shutout.
Offensively, the Mounties broke through in the fourth when Kayla Mendoza drove in the game's first run with an RBI single. Raygoza added insurance with a solo home run in the fifth, while contributions from Natalie Valiente, Sophia Sanchez and Leach helped extend the lead to 7-0, ensuring a spot for the Mounties in the Super Regionals.
OTHER RESULTS FROM THE WEEKEND:
The opening round of playoffs had several upsets and surprises across the bracket. No. 2 seed Cerritos College – Mt. SAC's conference rival – was upset by No. 16 College of the Canyons.
Citrus (6) fell to Saddleback (11) and Fullerton (7) fell to El Camino (10) knocking out several higher seeded teams and making for a very interesting post season.
NEXT UP:
The Mounties are moving on to the Super Regionals, where they'll face conference opponent Long Beach City College (31-9-1), who finished a single game behind the Mounties in the SCC.
Out of the three matchups earlier this season, Mt. SAC took games one and two (15-0, 4-0), but the Vikings took game three 9-4.
With a trip to the state championship on the line, the Mounties will look to carry this momentum into a highly anticipated best-of-three showdown. Game one is set for Friday, May 8, at Mt. SAC.
STAY CONNECTED:
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For additional information, please contact the Mt. SAC Sports Information Office at 909.274.4630.