The bashers came alive on Sunday at Pershing Park as SBCC totaled 25 runs on 26 hits to post a pair of wins on the final day of the Bash at the Beach softball tournament. The Vaqueros opened with an 8-3 win over Golden West and then went wild in a 17-5 victory over El Camino that was halted after five innings due to the run rule.
And the offensive fireworks came one day after SBCC managed just seven hits in losses to Santa Ana and Saddleback.
“It seems like a pattern,” said coach Paula Congleton. “That’s what happened to us on the second day at the Golden West Tournament (when they scored 23 runs in two games). All 13 players contributed today, it was great. It’s good to bounce back in your own tournament and finish 2-2.”
SBCC (8-19) was one of three teams to go 2-2 in the eight-team tourney. Saddleback was 4-0, followed by Golden West at 3-1.
Sierra Van Olphen, the smallest Vaquero at 5-foot-4, had a huge second game, going 4-for-4 with a triple, two doubles, a single, two RBIs and three runs scored. She batted leadoff and drilled a triple, double and single in the first three innings. She came up in the fourth with her team ahead 10-3 and the bases loaded. Van Olphen, a sophomore from West Covina, belted a deep fly to left-center — coming within 10 feet of a homer and the cycle — for a two-run double.
“She’s small but very mighty, a little dynamite,” said Congleton of Van Olphen, whose nickname is “Peanut.”
Van Olphen said: “I usually just get singles and walks. My No. 1 fans were here (including her parents) and coach told me I needed to get on fire.”
Catcher Sonja Crawford knocked in five runs in the second game with a two-run double and a three-run homer during a seven-run uprising in the fourth.
“I’ve been in a slump and sick but today, we were all on fire,” said Crawford. “We saw our high school coach (Jack Coy of San Marcos) and he asked each of us (ex-Royal Becky Abbott also homered in the first game) to hit some homers over the weekend and we came through and did it. That was really special.”
Sara Gurchinoff paced an 11-hit offense in the first game, going 3-4 with two RBIs and a two-run double in a four-run sixth that boosted the lead to 7-1. Abbott hit her first homer of the year in the same inning.
SBCC took a 2-1 lead in the fourth against Golden West when Erin Breck was hit by a pitch and went to third on a single by Bianca Alvarez. Lauren Gniadek followed with a two-run single to left-center. Alvarez scored all the way from first with a head-first slide. She broke her nose on the play and had to leave the game.
Bagwell was 2-3 with an RBI while Gniadek, who took over for Alvarez at third base, was 2-4.
SBCC returns to WSC play on Tuesday with a home doubleheader against Oxnard at 1 p.m.
GAME 1: SBCC 8, GOLDEN WEST 3
SBCC ………………… 000 214 1 — 8 11 2
Golden West …….. 100 000 2 — 3 6 3
Gniadek, Garza (5) and Crawford, Monelo (5); Theophilus and Lupinetti. W–Gniadek. L–Theophilus.
2B–SB: Gurchinoff. HR–SB: Abbott (1), 6th inn., none on. GW: Charron, 7th inn., none on.
Records–SB 7-19. GW 14-16.
GAME 2: SBCC 17, EL CAMINO 5
El Camino ……….. 003 02 — 5 6 4
SBCC ………………. 343 7x — 17 15 0
Cortez and Oro; Monelo, Garza (4) and Crawford. W–Monelo. L–Cortez.
2B–SB: Van Olphen 2, Crawford. EC: Garcia. 3B–SB: Van Olphen. HR–EC: Flores, 3rd inn., two on. SB: Crawford, 4th inn., two on.
Record–SB 8-19.
RESULTS
Sunday, March 29 Final standings
SBCC 8, Golden West 3 Saddleback 4-0
SBCC 17, El Camino 5 (5 inn.) Golden West 3-1
Santa Ana 10, L.A. Valley 3 Santa Ana 3-1
El Camino 7, Rio Hondo 0 SBCC 2-2
Saddleback 8, L.A. Pierce 0 El Camino 2-2
Golden West 12, Rio Hondo 6 L.A. Valley 2-2
Saddleback 2, L.A. Valley 0 L.A. Pierce 1-3
Santa Ana 12, L.A. PIerce 0 Rio Hondo 0-4
