Pirates make quick work of Dons with 8-0, five-inning win

COSTA MESA -- On a day where the weather allowed for a nice, long afternoon of softball, the Orange Coast College Pirates said "nope" and notched an 8-0, five-inning over visiting Santa Ana in just over an hour on Monday at the OCC Softball Complex.

Coast (6-7, 3-2 in the Orange Empire Conference) score twice in the second, four more times in the third and twice more in the fifth with Taylor Andolsek's 2-run home run ended the game before anyone could suffer a rare sunburn this month.

Andolsek finished 2-for-2 with three runs scored and two RBI for the Pirates, while Ariana Williams added two hits, two runs and an RBI. Out of OCC's nine hits, four were doubles and one, the aforementioned Andolsek HR to left. 

While the offense did its thing, the Pirate pitching and defense did their thing, holding the Dons (7-10, 3-3) to just one hit, while playing an impressive, zero-error defense behind starter Angela Whitmer (1-4).

Whitmer went the distance for Coast and allowed just a single to right off the bat of SAC's Jojo Westerfield, while walking one and striking out two.

Coast got the offense going in the second when Andolsek led off with a single to left. She moved up a base after a sacrifice bunt by Lydia Gonzalez and scored on an RBI-double to left off the bat of Isabel McElroy, putting OCC up, 1-0.

Two batters later, Nadia Perez ripped a single to left to score McElroy to give the Pirates a 2-0 lead.

In the bottom of the third, Coast used a single by Emilie Lapena, an RBI-ddouble by Natalie Lauthers and an RBI-double by Williams to make it 4-0 and knocking out SAC starter Ale Guzman (2-2). Coast kept applying pressure and score twice more with a sacrifice fly by McElroy and an RBI-double off the bat of Giana Gozo. 

After a scoreless fourth inning, the Pirates quickly ended the game in the fifth when Williams singled to left and scored on Andolsek's two-run shot over the left-field fence. 

Weather permitting, the Pirates will return to the OCC Softball Complex on Tuesday against Santiago Canyon, beginning at 3 p.m.