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Photo by
Juan Velez. Samantha Vaaulu hit her
17th home run of the season to add to her
own school single-season record to help
Cerritos power their way past Saddleback
on Saturday. |
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Photos |
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The Cerritos
College softball team has been using the long ball
all season long on their way to 38 wins. The
Falcons, seeded #2 in the Southern California
Regional Playoffs, took a 1-0 best-of-three series
lead with a 10-2, five-inning win on Saturday at
Nancy Kelly Field against #8-seeded Saddleback.
Cerritos (38-9-1) slammed three more home runs to
give them 54 on the year. As a result, the Gauchos
(29-13) need to win two games on Sunday, with the
first slated for noon.
The home run
barrage started in the bottom of the first inning
when freshman catcher
Samantha
Vaaulu (Warren HS) added to
her school single-season record with her 17th on the
season off Lauren Molina. Freshman outfielder
Lauren
Castrellon (Downey HS) led off
with a walk and was sacrificed to second base. After
fouling off four straight pitches, Vaaulu sent a
line shot over the left-center field fence for a
two-run home run.
After picking up
another pair of runs in the bottom of the third
inning, with sophomore outfielder
Jennifer
Salas (California HS)
launching her sixth on top of the new power plant
building over the left field fence, the Gauchos
generated a pair of runs of their own.
Shannon Wilkerson
singled for Saddleback in the fourth inning and
advanced to third base on a double by Molina. With
two outs, Megan Geier singled to right field, which
scored Wilkerson. On the play, Castrellon threw the
ball away, which allowed Geier to cross the plate.
That was all the offense the Gauchos would generate,
as Cerritos freshman pitcher
Hillary Perez-Ashley (Long Beach
Poly HS) did not allow a hit the rest of the
way. On the day, Perez-Ashley (28-5) surrendered
five hits and struck out three.
Although
Saddleback was done scoring, the Falcons were just
getting started. In the fourth inning, freshman
Brandi Rummel (La Serna HS)
led off with a single and came home on a triple by
freshman first baseman
Ashley
Ventura (Carson HS). On the
play, Geier attempted to short-hop the ball, and it
skipped past her all the way to the fence, and
Ventura was credited with her second triple of the
year. After two outs were recorded, Castrellon hit
her 13th home run of the season.
Cerritos closed
out the game in the fifth after Salas was hit by a
pitch and freshman second baseman
Lindsey
Marquez (Gahr HS) followed
with a single. Rummel doubled in the first run,
while freshman outfielder
Devin
Salmones (Gahr HS) ended the
game with an RBI single, while the second run came
when Wilkison over ran the ball, allowing freshman
pinch-runner
Alyssa
Morales (Gahr HS) to score.
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