Glendora, CA - The Citrus College Lady Owls improved to 7-2 in conference play on Tuesday with a sweep of Glendale Community College. Shauna Buckholtz had six hits, including three doubles and a homer to pace Citrus to a pair of 10-2 mercy wins.
The Owls jumped ahead 3-0 in the first inning of game one. Buckholtz led off with a double and Ebony Johnson reached on an error. Corinne Milligan then brought them both home with a two-RBI single. Milligan also scored on an error. In all, five of the ten Owl runs were unearned as they forced four Glendale errors.
Citrus put away the mercy-rule win in the bottom of the sixth inning on an RBI double by Amanda Mays. Milligan (9-4) threw a complete game for the Owls to get the victory, striking out eight batters. She was touched for a two-run homer in the top of the sixth.
The Owls jumped out early again in game two, staking a 5-0 lead after two innings. Glendale scored two unearned runs in the third to make it 5-2, but Citrus added three in the fourth for an 8-2 lead. The Owls needed an eight-run lead after five innings to invoke the mercy-rule again, and they would do just that with two runs in the bottom of the fifth. Buckholtz led off the inning with her second home run of the season and later, with the bases loaded, Jessica Alvarez hit an RBI single to score Caitlyn Tolan for the winning run.
Alvarez (8-2) pitched a complete game for Citrus, striking out four and allowing just two unearned runs on six hits. All four of her strikeouts were of the caught-looking type as she had the Glendale batters off balance all afternoon.
Buckholtz wasn’t the only Owl to rack up multiple hits as Citrus connected for 28 hits over eleven innings in the double hitter. Johnson and Mays had five hits and four RBI apiece. Milligan and Tolan each had three hits.
Citrus (17-6, 7-2 Western State Conference) will be back in action on Thursday as they travel to face L.A. Valley at 2:30 pm. They will look to extend their four-game WSC winning streak.