Kailey Snyder threw a no-hitter and Stephanie Bolanos knocked in five runs on Sunday, leading SBCC to an 8-0 softball win over Rio Hondo in the final game of the Vaqueros‘ Bash at the Beach.
Snyder tossed a three-hitter in the opener as No. 15 Santa Barbara (28-5) downed East L.A. 3-1 to break the school record for victories. The old mark of 26 wins was set by the 2006 team in 43 games — 10 more than this year‘s squad has played.
Bolanos went 3-4 in the Rio Hondo game and hit her first homer — a two-run shot that made it 2-0 in the second. The Vaqueros scored three times in the sixth inning on Laura Cannon’s RBI single and a two-run, two-out opposite-field single by Bolanos that ended the game. That triggered the eight-rule, which gives a team the victory when it leads by eight or more through five or more innings.
“I brought a lot of confidence to the plate (on the homer),” said Bolanos, a freshman catcher from Fontana. “I zoned out everybody in the audience and found my pitch.
“I’m extending my arms and seeing the ball well.”
Snyder struck out six in the first game and 11 in the afternoon affair. She nearly had a perfect game with the only blemish coming when she walked Ashley Olivas with two outs in the fourth.
After the no-hitter, Snyder was surprised to hear the news.
“Oh, I didn’t even realize it,” said the sophomore right-hander who’s now 25-4. “I felt so much better in the second game. I’m starting to get my groove back and my mental state is there now. I felt really comfortable.”
Snyder didn’t allow an earned run in 13 innings and only surrendered three hits with 17 strikeouts.
“Kailey pitched awesome again,” Bolanos declared. “She’s like Wonder Woman. I don‘t know how she pitches all these games.”
In other games, Rio Hondo (11-23) downed Golden West 10-4 and East L.A. (14-16-1) edged Golden West 5-4. SBCC went 3-1 in the two-day tourney.
Joan Cannon and her twin sister, Laura, each had two hits in the 3-1 win over East L.A. Laura Cannon drove in Snyder with the game-winning run on an RBI single in the first.
In the opener, Elicity Fabing made two outstanding catches in the top of the seventh. The left fielder dashed in and reached across her body for a backhand grab of a short fly ball for the first out. With two outs and a runner on first, she leaped near the fence and stole a potential game-tying homer from Elizabeth Lopez.
“That girl kept hitting it over there (Lopez hit several foul balls near the left-field line),” said Fabing, who played two years on the Vaquero women’s soccer team. “I was waiting for it to come my way and it finally did. I got back there, jumped up, caught it and landed on the fence.”
The Vaqueros continue their seven-game homestand on Thursday when they return to WSC Gold Division play with a 1 p.m. doubleheader against L.A. Pierce.
SBCC is first in the conference with a 13-2 record. The Vaqueros lead Ventura (11-4) by two games with three to play and their magic number to clinch a tie for their first title is one.
SBCC ……….. 200 001 0 — 3 5 3
East L.A. ……. 001 000 0 — 1 3 3
Chaidez and Zevada; Snyder and Bolanos. W–Snyder 24-4. L–Chaidez 3-9.
2B–SB: L. Cannon. 3B–ELA: Zevada.
(6 inn., run rule)
Rio Hondo ….. 000 000 — 0 0 1
SBCC …….….. 023 003 — 8 9 0
Laezza, Olivas (3), Vela (6) and Murphy; Snyder and Bolanos. W–Snyder 25-4. L–Laezza 3-6.
2B–SB: Snyder. HR–SB: Bolanos (1), 2nd inn., one on.
