Estep leads Bobcats to consolation gold

The Saddleback softball team ended the season on a high note with a 12-11 win in 10 innings over Orange Coast College in the Orange Empire Conference Tournament Consolation Finals on Wednesday in Costa Mesa.  The Bobcats rallied from a big deficit for a thrilling extra-inning win.

Saddleback looked like it was going to go quietly into the night, trailing 6-1 heading into the top half of the sixth inning.  The Bobcat offense then woke up, sending eight batters to the plate and scoring four runs in cutting the deficit to 6-5.  Saddleback took advantage of a walk and error from the Pirates as Ehva Cifuentes-Zombulovic, Emma Estep and Isabel Siqueiros all had hits in the inning.

Saddleback then trailed 7-5 heading to the top of the seventh inning, needing two runs to keep the game alive.  The Bobcats responded with three more hits and received more help from Orange Coast as the Pirates committed another error and the pitching staff walked another batter.  The big blow was a single from Cifuentes-Zombulovic that scored Kianna Gutierrez to tie the game.

Saddleback looked as if it would win the game in the top half of the ninth inning when they scored two runs to take a 9-7 lead.  The Bobcats again received help from the OCC defense and had hits from Estep and Katie Schmidt in taking a two-run lead.  It was the fourth hit of the day for Estep, which was the second straight game with four hits.

Unfortunately, Orange Coast responded with two runs of their own in the bottom half of the ninth inning when Taylor Andolsek hit a two-run homer to tie the game at 9-9, sending the game to the 10^th inning.

Saddleback quickly put Orange Coast on the defensive when Brenna Sickles led off the top of the 10^th inning with a single to put the potential go-ahead run on base.  The Bobcats quickly got her over the second base with a sacrifice bunt by Gutierrez.  Anne Thibert then singled to put runners at the corners with one out in the inning.  Cifuentes-Zombulovic then came to the plate with an opportunity to get Saddleback the lead but flied out to shallow center field, not allowing the runners to advance.  The Bobcats then had Estep come to the plate, looking for her fifth hit of the game.  She responded with her first home run of the season, a blast over the left-center field wall for a 12-9 lead.

Saddleback started Katie Schmidt on the mound but it was Desiree McGruder that entered the game in the third inning after the Bobcats fell behind 6-1.  McGruder had her best performance of the season on the mound, pitching the final 7.1 innings in picking up her first win of the season.  McGruder got into some trouble in the bottom half of the 10^th inning when Orange Coast connected on a two-run homer to cut the Bobcat lead to 12-11.  She the retired the final batter on a fly out to left field as the bench sprinted onto the field to celebrate the win.

Estep finished 5-for-6 with six RBI in the game.  She was 9-for-10 in the final two games of the season, raising her season average 60 points to .353 for the year. 

Saddleback's 12 runs on Wednesday was the highest run total for the year.  The Bobcats finished the season 12-22 overall and 8-16 in Orange Empire Conference play, winning the consolation championship.