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Photo by
Juan Velez. Samantha Vaaulu set a
school record with three home runs in
Sunday's game to help send Cerritos back
to the State Championships on Friday. |
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After the Cerritos
College softball team hit six home runs in their
12-4, six-inning win over Saddleback College on
Sunday to sweep their best-of-three Super Regional,
their might be talk about renaming Nancy Kelly Field
to The Launching Pad. The Falcons, seeded #2 in the
South, saw freshman catcher
Samantha
Vaaulu (Warren HS) set a
school record with three home runs in the game,
while the six in one game is also a new school
record. Vaaulu also drove in six runs to lead the
way. The win sends Cerritos (39-9-1) back to the
State Championships, where they will get to defend
their title. The Falcons will open the state
tournament on Friday at the Salinas Sports Complex
against an opponent to be determined.
Cerritos took a
2-0 lead on solo home runs by Vaaulu and freshman
designated hitter
Brandi
Rummel (La Serna HS), but the
Gauchos took a brief 3-2 lead after two innings.
Falcon pitcher
Hillary Perez-Ashley (Long Beach
Poly HS) struggled to find the strike zone in
the second inning and walked three batters. The
third was with the bases loaded against ninth-place
hitter Chelsea Lievanos, which forced in a run.
Kelly Bosshart then gave Saddleback their only lead
of the series with a two-run single.
After scoring the
game-tying run in the third on a wild pitch, it was
a power hitting display, as the Falcons hit a pair
of home runs in the fifth inning and two more in the
sixth inning to win via the eight-run mercy rule.
Freshman outfielder
Lauren
Castrellon (Downey HS) hit her
14th of the season to lead off the fifth inning,
followed by a base hit by freshman shortstop
Cassandra
Godoy (Downey HS). On the hit,
Gaucho right fielder Megan Geier booted the ball,
allowing Godoy to advance to third base. She wasn't
there for long, as Vaaulu unleashed a Laura Molina
offering deep over the left-center field fence for a
two-run home run.
Freshman first
baseman
Ashley
Ventura (Carson HS) started
the sixth inning in the same fashion, as she muscled
a ball over the left-field fence for a lead-off home
run. A single by freshman outfielder
Devin
Salmones (Gahr HS), a double
by sophomore third baseman
Desiree
Miera (Downey HS) and a walk
to Castrellon loaded the bases. Godoy brought in a
pair with a double, while Vaaulu cleared the bases
with her 20th home run of the season.
On the year,
Vaaulu now has 70 RBI and is one shy of tying the
school record, set by Jessica Navarro
last season. Perez-Ashley, who allowed four runs on
six hits, improved her record to 29-5 and is also
close to breaking a record set by Navarro. During
the 2007 season, Navarro won 34 games in the circle.
As a team, the Falcons have hit 60 home runs, while
they have hit three or more in a game eight times on
the year. The most home runs in a game this season
prior to the six on Sunday was four, against Santa
Barbara City College in the first game of the
season.
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