The Vaqueros softball team split a doubleheader against the Allan Hancock Bulldogs Tuesday afternoon at Pershing Park, grabbing an 8-7 win in the first game and a 6-3 loss in the second.
This was the second time this season that the two teams have played each other. In their first encounter earlier this season, the Vaqueros dominated with in an 11-3 win. This was also the last time these teams would meet in the regular season. Going into the doubleheader, the Vaqueros were very confident and expected to clench both wins.
“Last time we played them we run ruled them in five innings so we were really confident going into these games,” said first baseman Alexa Sorensen. “Especially because we knew how important they were to our rankings.”
Going into game one, City College pitcher Madison McNamee pitched four straight innings without allowing a single run to score. While McNamee shut down the Bulldogs offense, the Vaqueros offense got off to an explosive start.
Sydney Townes started the inning with a line drive single followed by a slap bunt single from Alyssa-Rae Jewell. With runners on first and second, catcher Monica Salas hit a line drive double to score the first run of the game. Christal Vierra came up to bat next and delivered another one-run single. The momentum continued with a slew of hits leading to a total of 6 runs for the Vaqueros in the first inning.
The Vaqueros clenched two more runs in the second inning making the score 8-0. The Vaqueros would need to keep the Bulldogs from scoring until the fifth inning to win by the 8-run-rule.
However, the Bulldogs dug their way back into the game in the top of the fifth, scoring six runs and forcing the game to continue. The Bulldogs snagged one more run in the sixth inning but were unable to get a go ahead run in the seventh inning, leaving the final score at 8-7 Vaqueros. Even though the Vaqueros took the win, the coaching staff wasn’t completely satisfied with the team’s performance.
“I’m really happy that we won the first one because we are gonna take any win we can get,” said head coach Paula Congleton. “But as a coaching staff we are just really beat up, we feel like we prepare the kids and work hard at the preparation, it’s frustrating.”
Heading into the second game, the Bulldogs were the first team to score this time around. They had three runs on three hits in the second inning. The Vaqueros answered right back with a single by Lyndsi King then a powerful double to the fence by Sorensen. With runners on second and third, Lauren Ballard hit a line drive double to score both runners. Followed by another double from Maggie Jo Jackson to bring in one more run and tie the game up at three.
As the game went on with no change in score, it looked as if the game may go into extra innings. But once again, the Bulldogs offense was able to score just in time, bringing in three more runs in the last inning to end the game on top 6-3.
“We had a few errors but our lack of hitting was definitely what lost that game,” said Sorensen. “As a team, we weren’t hitting like we need to and our top hitters weren’t producing as they normally do.”
The Vaqueros are now 25-9 on the year with only five regular season games left. As the season is coming to a close, the coaching staff is still taking each day one at a time and looking forward to their upcoming games.
“We will bounce back tomorrow and work hard to get ready for Thursday,” said Congleton. “That’s all we can do at this point.”
The Vaqueros next game is at 2:30 p.m. Thursday at Cuesta College.
