Cypress, CA - The fifth ranked Cypress College softball team (4-1) defeated Long Beach City College (4-5) 11-3 in five innings on Friday afternoon. The Chargers have now won four straight games after being upset in their season opener.
Tobi Salzman finished 2-for-3 with an RBI to lead the way for the Chargers. Vanessa Ledesma (2-0) received the win after allowing only two earned runs while tallying two strikeouts in four innings at the mound. Anissa Hamilton (1-3) was credited with the loss for the Vikings after allowing five earned runs in three innings.
Cypress took an early lead in the first inning when Jenny Vasquez crushed an RBI triple to deep center field, scoring Salzman.
The Vikings responded in the top of the third inning. With the bases loaded and only one out Daisy Velasquez hit an RBI single to centerfield. Ledesma seemingly escaped the jam after Gabbie De La Vega grounded to shortstop, but after Pierce got the out at second, she committed a throwing error to first, allowing two runners to score to give Long Beach a 3-1 lead.
Cypress answered back in the bottom of the third inning with a 10-run rally. With two outs and runners on second and third, Cypress capitalized on a fielding error after Jenny Vasquez hit a hard grounder to third base to score Alexis Carmona. Jezz Portillo kept the rally going after slapping a line drive to left field to bring home another run and Taylor Pierce regained the lead with an RBI single to left that brought Carmona home. The Vikings brought in relief pitcher Brook Loard to stop the bleeding, but Cypress kept the rally going. After walking two straight batters to give the Chargers another run, Loard gave up a base-clearing triple to the speedy Allyson Painter which gave the Chargers an 8-3 lead. Salzman brought home another runner with an RBI single to left and Melanie Okazaki capped it off with a two-run triple to deep left to give Cypress an 11-3 lead.
Long Beach was unable to put another run on the board and the game would end by mercy rule in the fifth inning, 11-3. The Chargers are set to begin conference play on Wednesday, February 17th on the road against Santa Ana at 3:00 pm.
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