Amato powers Palomar to sweep of Pirates

SAN MARCOS (3/28/2023) – With sophomore first baseman Allyson Amato slugging home runs in each game, Palomar College continued to stay out of the loss column on Tuesday when the state's top-ranked softball team swept a nonconference doubleheader against Orange Coast College. 

Amato began the scoring in Game 1 with a solo home run to left field in the bottom of the first inning to ignite a 4-1 win, and she closed out the scoring in Game 2 with a three-run blast to left-center in the second inning to cap off a 13-1 triumph over the Pirates in the nightcap. 

The two wins at Bradley Park kept the Comets unbeaten for the season with a 21-0 record going into road games on Wednesday at San Diego Mesa and Thursday at Santa Ana. 

India Caldwell and Guiliana "Gigi" Clavel each pitched complete games for Palomar against Orange Coast (6-13). Caldwell was the winning pitcher in Game 1, improving her season record to 15-0. She scattered six hits while allowing only a third-inning run after Palomar had taken an early 3-0 lead. She did not walk a batter and struck out eight, including five of the last eight batters she faced. 

"I felt I was getting stronger as the game went on," said Caldwell, a sophomore right-hander out of Mission Vista High School who held the Pirates to a pair of singles over the final four frames. 

Amato's solo shot in the first inning gave Palomar a quick 1-0 lead, and the Comets added two more runs in the second inning. Sophomore Elisa Haas, returning to shortstop after playing catcher the previous day in a 9-0 win against San Diego City, singled with one out and stole second base. One out later, sophomore center fielder Cadee Herrmann stroked a single to center field to score Haas. Following an error on a grounder to third by sophomore left fielder Jonessa Hebreo, freshman right fielder Faith Steffany (Rancho Buena Vista HS) connected with an RBI single to right-center to bring home Herrmann. 

After Orange Coast scored in the top of the third, sophomore designated player Aaliyah Rivas led off the bottom of the third with her team-leading eighth home run of the season, a shot which carried over the right-field fence to give Palomar a three-run advantage which proved to be the final margin. 

The Comets torched three different Pirates pitchers for 10 runs in the first inning of Game 2. A leadoff walk to Steffany preceded a run-scoring triple to right by Amato for a quick 1-0 lead, which continued to expand with a pair of walks and three consecutive singles before Herrmann pulled a bases-loaded drive down the first-base line. By the time the ball rattled around in the right-field corner, Herrmann came all the way around to score with an inside-the-park grand slam for her first home run of the season and a 7-0 Palomar lead. 

"It was good to see all the run support, and Cadee's grand slam was pretty exciting," said Comets coach Lacey Craft. 

Palomar wasn't done with Herrmann's homer. Singles by Hebreo and Steffany and a walk to Amato loaded the bases for Rivas, who singled home two runs. Haas capped off the first-inning outburst with her second RBI single of the inning, which saw the Comets send 16 batters to the plate. 

A leadoff walk to Herrmann and Hebreo's second hit of the game preceded a one-out, three-run homer to left-center by Amato, giving her home runs in three consecutive games and five for the season. 

Clavel pitched her second five-inning complete game in two days to improve her record to 6-0 on the season. She allowed six hits with no walks and three strikeouts. Amato was 3-for-3 with 4 RBIs in Game 2, and Haas had two hits in each game for a 4-for-6 day at the plate. 

"It was nice to see Gigi pitch well and receive a lot of run support," Craft said. "I liked the adjustments we made in the second game against multiple pitchers." 

With Tuesday's twinbill, the Comets have played six games over five days following a nine-day layoff due to rain postponements. 

"We haven't had much opportunity to practice defense lately because of all the rain, so we're trying to be creative with anything we can do out of the cage," Craft said.   

Wednesday's Pacific Coast Athletic Conference game at San Diego Mesa has been moved up to a 1 p.m. start in an effort to beat another impending rainstorm, and Thursday's nonconference game at Santa Ana could be in jeopardy after already being postponed from March 2. 

Palomar's next home game is a PCAC affair against Imperial Valley scheduled for April 5 at Bradley Park. The first pitch is slated for 3 p.m.