Lisa Zeitlin and Kellee Venturi drove in two runs each on Thursday, leading SBCC to a 6-4 nonconference softball win over Canyons at Pershing Park.
The Vaqueros (5-1) collected twice as many hits (12-6) and remained perfect at home with a 4-0 record.
“It was a great game, Canyons has been WSC champs on the Blue side for four or five years,” said coach Paula Congleton. “Every time they got close, we would come right back with runs of our own. It’s been a joy to coach this year because I’ve had teams in the past where other teams would score and we wouldn’t fire back.
“This team doesn’t know how to lose, they just keep fighting back.”
SBCC jumped ahead 2-0 in the second on an RBI triple down the right-field line by Zeitlin and an RBI single from Jasmyne Holmes. In the third, Janelle Wong singled with two outs, went to second on a wild pitch and scored on Zeitlin’s single.
“It was an outside pitch (on the triple), so I just went with it,” said Zeitlin, a freshman third baseman from Calabasas High. “I didn’t think it would be a triple. I was just trying to make solid contact.
Wong, a sophomore from Dos Pueblos High, went 3-4 with two runs scored and an RBI. Batting in the cleanup spot, she drilled singles in three straight innings (2nd through 4th). Kellee Venturi entered the game in the fourth and went 2-2 with a pair of RBIs.
Run-scoring singles by Venturi and Wong made it 5-2 in the fourth. Joan Cannon (2-4, 2 runs) led off the sixth with an infield hit, went to second on a sacrifice by Nicole Adair and scored on a single by Venturi, boosting the lead to 6-4.
Starter Liliana Caughman (1-0) tossed four innings, allowing a pair of runs on three hits to earn her first collegiate win. Kailey Snyder came on in relief with runners at first and second and no outs in the sixth. After getting the first out, she hit a batter to load the bases, then got out of the jam with two pop-outs to Holmes at second base.
The Vaqueros will play two games on Saturday at Mt. San Antonio in Walnut, taking on Mt. SAC at 2 p.m. and Fullerton at 4 p.m.
SBCC 6, CANYONS 4
Canyons …… 000 211 0 — 4 6 1
SBCC ……….. 021 201 x — 6 12 3
Imperial and Tellez; Caughman, Carrillo (5), Snyder (6) and Holloway. W–Caughman 1-0. L–Imperial 3-2.
2B–C: Fridwall. 3B–C: Bruce. SB: Zeitlin.
Records–COC 4-3, SBCC 5-1.
