Cats swat back Hornets in opener

The Saddleback softball team defeated Fullerton College, 6-5, in the opening game of a three-game series on Tuesday at Bobcats Field.  Saddleback is now one game out of first place in the Orange Empire Conference standings.

Saddleback and Fullerton looked like a great matchup on paper as you had the top two teams in the Orange Empire Conference taking the field for the opening game of the series.  The play on the field didn't disappoint as Saddleback managed to eek out a win in a game with plenty of fireworks.

Saddleback opened the scoring in the bottom half of the second inning when Ehva Cifuentes-Zombulovic led off the inning with a line drive over the left field fence for a 1-0 lead.  The home run seemed to light a fire under the Bobcats, who had five straight runners reach base with two outs in the inning in taking a 5-0 lead.  Tessa Arciniega, Katelyn Peters and Mikayla Mendoza all had singles to load the bases before Millie Maher came to the plate and drew a walk after being down in the count (1-2) to start.  Lola Winningham then cleared the bases with a double to left-center field to give the Bobcats a huge advantage.

Saddleback held on to the lead until the top half of the fifth inning when Carlie Danovich came to the plate and hit a towering two-run homer to cut the Saddleback lead to 5-2.  The Bobcats responded with a run of their own in the bottom half of the inning when Ka'ui Garcia led off with a single and Cifuentes-Zombulovic followed with a double to put runners on second and third base with no outs in the inning.  Saddleback would settle for one run when Alexis Vanhorn pulled off a squeeze bunt to score Garcia for a 6-2 advantage.

Fullerton wasn't going to go down quietly as the Hornets mounted a charge in the top half of the seventh inning.  Lisa Villanueva came to the plate with two outs in the inning and blasted a ball over the center field fence with two runners on base to pull the Hornets within one run at 6-5.  Fullerton then had a single from Toafa Pua and had the potential go-ahead run at the plate in Faith Krueger, looking for a dramatic comeback.  The Bobcats got out of the inning when Colette Howren managed to get Krueger to hit a soft pop-up to Maher at shortstop to halt the rally and preserve the win.

Howren pitched a complete game, striking out nine Hornets in improving to 10-4 on the season.

Cifuentes-Zombulovic, Arciniega, Peters and Mendoza all had two hits to lead the offense.

Saddleback is now 21-11 overall and 9-4 in Orange Empire Conference play following the win.  The Bobcats and Hornets will continue the series at Fullerton College on Thursday at 2:00 PM.