That one could sting a bit!

The Saddleback softball team completed a sweep with a 9-6 victory over No. 8 Fullerton College on Friday at Bobcats Field.  With the win the Bobcats are all alone in first place in the Orange Empire Conference (OEC).

Saddleback entered the series with Fullerton two games back of the Hornets in the standings and hoping for a series win to pick up ground in the OEC.  The Bobcats did one better, winning all three games in exciting fashion and now stand alone in first place with six games remaining on the schedule.

Saddleback's chances of a sweep looked thin through the first 3.5 innings as Fullerton jumped out to a 4-0 lead at the opening bell.  The Hornets had four hits in the first inning, including a three-run homer from Lisa Villanueva in chasing starting pitcher Kylee Cammarato from the game. 

Saddleback inserted Colette Howren into the game on the mound, and she quieted the Hornet bats while giving the Bobcats a chance to regroup. 

The game went to the bottom half of the fourth inning when Saddleback put together its biggest inning of the season.  The Bobcats scored eight times in the inning, completely flipping the game from a four-run deficit to a four-run advantage.   Saddleback sent 10 batters to the plate, collecting five hits while taking advantage of two defensive miscues and a hit batter start the inning. 

The Bobcats had the bases loaded with two outs in the inning when they put together five straight hits.  Mikayla Mendoza, Millie Maher, Lola Winningham and Ka'ui Garcia all had singles to give Saddleback a 5-4 lead.  Ehva Cifuentes-Zombulovic then came to the plate and hit her team-leading ninth home run of the season, a three-run shot to give the Bobcats an 8-4 lead.

Fullerton wasn't going to go down quietly as the Hornets rallied for two runs in the top half of the sixth inning to cut the Saddleback lead to 8-6.  The Bobcats quickly responded with a run of their own in the bottom half of the inning when singles from Maher, Garcia and Cifuentes-Zombulovic pushed the lead back to 9-6. 

Fullerton again made things interesting in the top half of the seventh inning when they had two runners on base with the tying run at the plate and two outs in the inning.  Howren then got Dakota Hilvers looking on a called third strike as the home crowd erupted.

Maher finished 3-for-4 with two runs-scored in the game while Cifuentes-Zombulovic was 2-for-4 with four RBI. 

Howren pitched the final 6.2 innings in improving to 12-4 for the season.  She spread around six hits while walking none on the afternoon. 

Saddleback is now 23-11 overall and 11-4 in Orange Empire Conference play following the win.  The Bobcats have a one-game lead over a pack of three teams, including Fullerton, Cypress College and Orange Coast College.

Saddleback opens a three-game series against Orange Coast on Tuesday at 2:00 PM at Bobcats Field. 

GAME NOTE:  The eight-run inning on Friday was the most runs scored in an inning since scoring 10 against Chaffey last season on February 21, 2025.