The Citrus College Owls lost to the Cerritos Falcons in a non-conference matchup, 11-3, on March 30 at the Owl’s Nest.
The Owls came in with a 14-12 record, however they came in with a 1-4 record in their last five games. The Falcons came in with a 13-10 record.
Sophomore Briana Lopez, who leads the Falcons in hits, RBIs and runs was the star of the game for Cerritos
Lopez had two home runs, one of them a leadoff in the first inning, a three RBI double and six RBIs overall.
“It felt really great,” Lopez said while talking about her leadoff home run. “Just so my team has confidence in themselves in hitting and it was great to have a score going into the second inning.”
The Falcons took a 7-0 lead in the first inning with the help of freshman Deja Sendejas and sophomore Tatyana Peko.
Lopez hit a leadoff home run and a three-RBI double in the first. The Owls would still put up a fight in the game, as sophomore Leticia Morales hit a two RBI double to cut the lead to 7-2 in the bottom of the first.
The Falcons would strike back in the second inning with a sacrifice fly by Sendejas and a single by freshman Sierra Gerdts to make the game 9-2.
“I thought my team played outstanding,” Cerritos coach Kodee Murray said. “We came in a couple players short today and everybody stepped up and took care of business.”
The Owls wouldn’t score again until the bottom of the fourth inning when freshman Shania Carlin hit a single to make the score 9-3.
In the top of the fifth, Lopez hit her second home run of the game, a two-run shot to right field that gave the Falcons an 11-3 lead.
After the Owls failed to score a run in the bottom of the fifth, the home plate umpire called the game due to the eight-run mercy rule. The Owls lost the game 11-3 ,which gave them their fifth loss in their last six games.
“Right now we’re trying to focus on our approach,” Owls coach Terry Paredez said. “We’re trying to be aggressive on the plate and on the field, the best thing we can do is to fight back, scratch and claw and get our way back into the game, and right now we’re having a hard time getting back on the track with some injuries and some different things happen to the team, but we also have to show adversity and that we can come back.”
The winning pitcher was Cerritos freshman Sierra Gerdts who moves to 12-8 and the losing pitcher was Owls freshman Becky Winder who moves to 5-8. The Owls had seven hits and one error while the Falcons had 12 hits and two errors.
The Owl’s next home game is against L.A. Mission at 2:30 p.m. April 5 at the Owl’s Nest.
