Bobcats show mettle against Olympians

The Saddleback softball team improved to 2-0 with a 4-3 win against San Diego Mesa College in extra innings in the home-opener on Wednesday.  The Bobcats scored in the bottom half of the 10^th inning to nip the Olympians.

Saddleback started hot, scoring three times in the bottom half of the first inning for a 3-0 lead.  Anne Thibert started the rally with one out in the inning when she singled to right field and quickly stole second base.  Thibert then stole third base on a double-steal, with Ehva Cifuentes-Zombulovic also taking second base.  Thibert then came home to score the first run of the game when Mesa shortstop Ambria Guy misplayed a routine grounder, also allowing Cifuentes-Zombulivic to advance to third base.  Cifuentes-Zobulovic then came home when Katie Schmidt singled up the middle.  With two outs in the inning, Saddleback made it 3-0 when Kianna Gutierrez singled home Emma Estep.

Saddleback's bats went silent from that point forward, going scoreless for the next eight innings while Mesa battled back to tie the game.  The Olympians scored once in the second inning and twice in the third before both teams went silent.

Schmidt started on the mound and after a slow start through three innings got into a groove.  She gave up just three hits over the next five innings before finally getting into a jam in the top half of the ninth inning.  Mesa had two runners reach base in the ninth inning when Schmidt caught a bit of a break on a base-running blunder by the Olympians.  With two outs in the inning, Hannah Anderson hit what appeared to be a routine popup to second base.  The Bobcat defender dropped the ball, but was bailed out when Anderson quit running to first base, thus allowing Brenna Sickles to pick up the ball and throw out Anderson at first base for the third out of the inning.

Saddleback finally appeared to have the game in control in the bottom half of the 10^th inning when Sickles doubled to left field and was quickly bunted over to third base on a sacrifice from Desiree McGruder.  Unfortunately, Sickles was then picked off at third base when the catcher threw down after a pitch and caught her leaning too far off the bag.  With two outs and no runners on base, Thibert then started what would be the final rally when she singled to right field.  She quickly picked up her third stolen base of the game when she swiped second base on the first pitch to Cifuentes-Zombulovic.  Thibert then scored the winning run when Cifuentes-Zombulovic singled to center field with Thibert running on contact.

Saddleback improved to 2-0 with the win while Mesa dropped to 1-2 with the loss.  The Bobcats will try to make it three in a row on Friday when they host Palomar College.  Saddleback and Palomar are scheduled to start at 1:00 PM.