Softball: Vikings overpowered by Cerritos, fall 11-2 in five innings

The Long Beach City College softball team suffered an 11-2 South Coast Conference loss to visiting Cerritos College on Thursday at LBCC. The five-inning, mercy-rule defeat dropped Long Beach to 1-4 overall and 0-2 in conference play.

The Vikings led early, getting a first-inning run when freshman Doreen Corella (San Pedro HS) came in to score on a wild pitch.

Cerritos responded with three runs in the top of the second. The big blow was a two-run single by Cerritos third baseman Crystal Cano. She went on to drive in five runs for the Falcons.

Long Beach got within one after freshman Gabrielle De La Vega (Redondo Union HS) led off the bottom of the second with a solo home run over the left-center field fence.

Cerritos added two more runs in the third and blew the game open with six runs in the fifth.

Freshman Mariah Salazar (California HS) took the loss (0-1) for the Vikings. She allowed three earned runs and four hits over 2 2/3 innings.

Jennifer Navarro went the distance for Cerritos (7-2, 2-0 SCC) to improve to 5-0 in the circle. She allowed two runs and four hits.

Long Beach will look to bounce back on Friday (Feb. 13) when the Vikings host Glendale College in a non-conference game at 2:30 p.m.