Cats provide the buzz kill

The Saddleback softball team rallied for an 8-7 win at Fullerton College on Thursday in Fullerton.  The Bobcats trailed 6-0 through two innings before rallying for the win.

Fullerton was looking for revenge after losing a tight battle to Saddleback in the opener on Tuesday.  The Hornets looked like a team on a mission through two innings, jumping out to a 6-0 lead.  The Bobcats did their best to give Fullerton some help, committing a pair of defensive errors that allowed five unearned runs.

Saddleback finally got on the board in the top half of the third inning when they pieced together four straight hits with two outs in the inning to cut the deficit to 6-1.  Lola Winningham, Ka'ui Garcia and Ehva Cifuentes-Zombulovic all singled to load the bases before Colette Howren got the Cats on the board with a single up the middle to break up the shutout.

Saddleback made a big push in the top half of the fifth inning when Fullerton returned the favor with a pair of defensive errors of their own.  Millie Maher led off the inning with a walk and then stole second base before Winningham doubled to cut the deficit to 6-2.  Later in the inning, Alexis Vanhorn came to the plate with two outs and runners at second and third base and delivered a single to right field that was misplayed by the outfielder, allowing both Winningham and Garcia to score.  The next batter was Tessa Arciniega, who reached base on an error by the first baseman, allowing Vanhorn to score in cutting the deficit to 6-5. 

Saddleback trailed 7-5 heading to the sixth inning when they scored three more times to push past the Hornets.  Once again, they had some help from the Fullerton defense.  Saddleback opened the scoring when Mikayla Mendoza singled and two batters later was brough home on a double from Winingham to pull within one run.  Following a line out from Garcia, Cifuentes-Zombulovic came to the plate and reached base on an error from the Fullerton shortstop to put runners at the corners with two outs in the inning.  The Bobcats made the Hornets pay for their mistake when Howren doubled to right-center field to score both runners for an 8-7 lead.

Howren then took the mound for the seventh inning, needing three outs to pull out a historic comeback.  She proceeded to shut down the Hornets in order as Saddleback pulled out a second straight one-run victory over Fullerton.  Perhaps more importantly, the win put Saddleback in a tie for first place in the Orange Empire Conference and gave the Bobcats a series win over the Hornets with one game remaining on Friday.

Saddleback's 2-3-4-5 hitters finished 9-for-16 in the game.  Winningham was the offensive star of the game, finishing 3-for-4 with three runs-scored and two RBI.

Howren (11-4) pitched the last 2.2 innings in picking up the win.

Saddleback is now 22-11 overall and 10-4 in Orange Empire Conference (OEC) play with the win.  The Bobcats and Hornets are part of a three-way tie atop the OEC standings with Orange Coast College.

Saddleback and Fullerton will finish the series on Friday at Saddleback at 2:00 PM at Bobcats Field.