SANTA BARBARA – The SBCC softball team began the month of April with a pair of wins on Saturday, defeating Cabrillo 5-4 and 7-1 in a nonconference doubleheader at Pershing Park.
The Vaqueros (15-10) gutted out the first game of the day after scoring all four of its runs in the fourth inning and carried that momentum into a blowout win in game two.
SBCC 5, Cabrillo 4
Santa Barbara matched Cabrillo (11-14) in hits in the first game of the day and trailed 2-0 midway through the fourth inning. In the bottom half of the inning, the Vaqueros reeled off six of their seven hits to score all five of their runs.
Elliana Ryan led off with a double down the left field line. Hailey Abdilla entered as a pinch runner and scored on the next at bat, a single to center by Mackenzie Ensign.
Sarah Hammonds and Emma Hatcher both followed with singles. Ensign scored to tie the game and Lauren Indermuehle hit an RBI single into left field to bring Hammonds in for the go-ahead run. Facing two outs, pitcher Joslyn Soinila hit a huge triple down the left field line, scoring runs for Hatcher and Indermuehle to put the Vaqs up 5-2.
Cabrillo answered right back with two runs in the top of the fifth to cut the lead back to one. However, Soinila closed things out by picking up outs on the final six Cabrillo batters to stave off the visitors' comeback effort. Soinila finished with seven strikeouts, one shy of a season best.
SBCC 7, Cabrillo 1
Game two went very differently, with SBCC putting up seven runs right off the bat. Cabrillo took a 1-0 lead in the first inning before the Vaqueros exploded for their second five-run inning of the day to pull away for good.
The home side loaded the bases just four at bats in, as Indermuehle and Jessica Reveles walked and Ryan hit a single to third. Another walk for Ensign gave her an RBI and Indermuehle tied the game at 1-1.
After a Cabrillo pitching change, SBCC kept the pressure on. Reveles put the Vaqueros up 2-1 on a wild pitch. Delaney Neely singled through the left side and Ryan scored to make it 3-1. Alexia Ayala doubled to center field and SBCC scored two more runs from Ensign and Neely.
Starting at pitcher and staying in for all seven innings, Indermuehle kept Cabrillo scoreless the rest of the way. The Vaqueros put another two runs on the board in the second inning, with RBI singles from Ensign and Neely yielding runs for Indermuehle and Ryan.
It was a scoreless final five innings after SBCC's hot start put it up 7-1. The Vaqueros outhit Cabrillo 11-4, led by three hits from Neely and two each by Ryan and Ayala.
NEXT UP
Santa Barbara heads back on the road for a pair of midweek games, beginning with Allan Hancock on Tuesday at 2:30 p.m.
