Pitching for the fifth time in four days didn’t seem to bother Kailey Snyder on Tuesday as SBCC opened WSC Gold Division play with a 4-1 softball victory over Cuesta at Pershing Park.
“Surprisingly, I’m not tired,” said Snyder, after tossing a four-hitter with nine strikeouts. “I was more sore Sunday morning before our first two games (on the second day of the Fresno Tournament). On Monday, I was completely fine and ready to play again.”
It was the eighth straight win for the Vaqueros (9-1, 1-0), who were making just their second home appearance. SBCC has outscored its opponents 45-7 during the win streak.
Cuesta (5-11, 0-1) got runners on first and second with no outs in the second but Snyder held them to one run on Devin Oddenino’s one-hopper to right that Nicole Adair turned into the second out at first base. Snyder got the other two outs when batters looked at strike three.
“In situations like that, I just picture it like there’s nobody on base, it’s a brand-new game and block out everything else,” said Snyder.
Carly Smith singled in the second and scored on a wild pitch to tie the game. In the fourth, Laura Cannon reached on an error and scored the go-ahead run on Snyder’s triple over the right-fielder’s head.
“Kailey might have been a little nervous since this was our conference opener but she really settled down after giving up that run,” said coach Paula Congleton. “Overall, we struggled a little at the plate but still won 4-1 against one of the better pitchers we‘ve seen. I’ll take that any day.”
Elizabeth Isaak tossed a five-hitter for the Cougars and struck out nine, including six of the first eight batters.
SBCC sent eight batters to the plate in the sixth and loaded the bases on a single by Lisa Zeitlin and two walks. Nicole Adair forced in a run with a walk and Maryann Giles scored the fourth run on an error.
SBCC travels to Ventura on Tuesday.
Cuesta ……. 010 000 0 — 1 4 2
SBCC …..…. 010 120 x — 4 5 0
Issak and Ogle; Snyder and Bolanos. W–Snyder 9-1. L–Issak 4-4.
3B–SB: Snyder.
