Cats squeeze Citrus to advance

The Saddleback softball team pulled off two wins at Citrus College on Saturday to advance to the regional finals next weekend.  The Bobcats will host College of the Canyons in a best-of-three series for the right to play in the 3C2A State Tournament the following weekend.

Saddleback lost a brutal game on Friday when it gave up four runs in the final two innings in falling in the opening game of the series, 4-3.  The Bobcats collected themselves and battled back to win the final two games in advancing to the regional finals.

Saddleback wasted no time in putting Friday's loss behind them, scoring three runs in the bottom half of the first inning in taking a 3-0 lead.  Millie Maher led off the inning with a single and later stole second base She eventually came around to score the opening run on a single to right field by Ehva Cifuentes-Zombulovic.  The next batter was Colette Howren, who singled to left field to drive in both Ka'ui Garcia and Cifuentes-Zombulovic for a 3-0 lead.

Citrus scored a pair of runs in the top half of the second inning to pull within 3-2 when Miranda Mckiernan hit a two-run homer.  The Bobcats quickly responded with a run in the bottom half of the inning when Mikayla Mendoza singled home Lola Winningham, who had singled earlier in the inning.

The rest of the game went scoreless as the pitchers took over the game.  Colette Howren allowed just two hits after the second inning while striking out six Owls in improving to 18-6. 

Game two had a similar feeling in that most of the runs were scored early in the game.  Saddleback and Citrus both scored four times in the opening inning in what looked like a potential shootout.  Saddleback had five hits and a walk in opening up a 4-0 lead to start the game.  The Owls battled back with four runs of their own after the Bobcats committed a pair of miscues in the field which led to three unearned runs.

The game remained tied until the third inning when Saddleback grabbed back the lead.   Cifuentes-Zombulovic led off the inning with a double before Howren came to the plate and blasted a ball over the wall for a two-run homer.  It was Howren's fifth home run of the season and would eventually be the game-winning hit.

Howren was a force on the mound the rest of the way.  She spread around five hits from that point forward while keeping the Owls off balance.  Howren even helped herself out in the field the sixth inning when Citrus had the bases loaded with one out in the inning.  They hit a ball back to the mound and she threw home for a force out and then the relay to first base was in time for a double-play to end the inning.

Saddleback had 11 hits in the game, with Cifuentes-Zombulovic, Maher and Lehua Garcia all finishing with two hits apiece.  Howren improved to 19-6 on the season with the win, pitching the final six innings of the game.

Saddleback is now 30-13 overall following the win.  The Bobcats will host College of the Canyons next week in the regional finals after Canyons upset Cerritos College two-games-to-one.

Saddleback and Canyons will open the best-of-three series on Friday at Bobcats Field.  A starting time has yet to be determined.

GAME NOTE:  The second win on Saturday was the 30^th of the season.  It is the first time the program has won 30 games since 2010 when the team won 35 games.