Softball: Roadrunners suffer a pair of losses at Cypress

It was a tough Saturday afternoon for the Rio Hondo College Softball team as the Roadrunners suffered a pair of non-conference losses at Cypress College. Rio Hondo opened the day with a narrow 7-5 loss to the host Chargers and followed that with an 8-0, five-inning defeat to College of the Canyons.

Rio Hondo, now 3-5 overall, will look to get back on track when the Roadrunners host Los Angeles Valley College on Wednesday (Feb. 10) at 3 p.m.

Game 1: Cypress 7, Rio Hondo 5

Cypress jumped on Rio Hondo starting pitcher Brenae Martinez early, scoring a pair of runs in the first and adding four more in the second.

Trailing 6-1, the Roadrunners scored two runs in the third to cut Cypress' lead. Gabrielle Salavdor hit a RBI single to drive in Esthefany Martinez and then came in to score on a fielder's choice. Cypress got an insurance run in the sixth before Rio Hondo made the game interesting with a rally in the seventh.

Mylene Valencia smacked a RBI triple to score Nadiya Lozano and Stephanie Pirir-Pulido followed with a single to bring home Valencia. Rio Hondo eventually loaded up the bases but Cypress' Ashley Ramirez got Briana Rios to line out to right field to end the game.

Salavdor, Lozano, and Elaine Verdugo all had twi hits and a RBI for Rio Hondo.

Game 2: Canyons 8, Rio Hondo 0 (5 innings)

Rio Hondo couldn't get much going offensively and totaled just three hits in the loss to Canyons. The Cougars scored five runs in the top of the first to put the game out of reach early.

Martinez collected two of the Roadrunners three hits in contest. From the circle, she allowed six earned runs and five hits over five innings. Martinez struck out three and walked three.