Glendora, CA (Softball) – The 2007 Citrus College Softball team kicked off their first round series with Golden West College with a 9-7 win Saturday afternoon. The Lady Owls recorded 11 hits over 6 innings, but received a scare when the Rustlers scored three runs in the top of the 7th inning.
Corinne Milligan, the Western States Conference Player of the Year, was in the circle for the Fighting Owls Saturday afternoon. The usually sure-fire Milligan ran into a bit of a hiccup this afternoon giving up the most hits she’s given up all year, as she surrendered 15 hits to the Rustlers. While Milligan relinquished a few hits, she kept the Lady Owls in the game as she struck out six batters on the day.
Both teams exchanged outs until Citrus struck first in the bottom of the third inning. With runners on first and second and two outs, Citrus catcher Ashlie Paredez came to the plate and calmly stroked a single to right field, driving in Milligan. The very next batter, Leticia Avalos, hit another single this time to left field scoring Jessica Alvarez and giving Citrus a 2-0 lead.
The Lady Owls bats stayed awake the very next inning, as they scored three more runs, capped off by an Alvarez double to left-center that drove in two runs and a Melanie Hansen triple that drove in another, giving the Lady Owls a 5-0 lead going into the top of the fifth inning.
That’s when Golden West made their move. With two outs and runners on first and second base, short-stop Ivy Sessions drove in the first two Rustler’s runs of the day with a double to left-center field. Golden West would score one more run in the inning off a Citrus error before the Lady Owls would get out of the inning with a 5-3 lead.
In the bottom of the fifth, Leticia Avalos broke things wide open with a lead-off home-run, her first of the season, to left-center field. After the Rustler’s scored a run in the top of the sixth, Citrus answered with three more in the bottom of the same inning to give the Lady Owls a 9-4 lead going into the top of the 7th.
Golden West’s rally came with two outs and a runner on first base, and catcher Cara Martino at the dish. Martino ripped a double to right-center field that drove in one run. The very next batter, Jill Albert, did the exact same thing as Martino, pushing the score to 6-9. Tasha Dowler, who came into pitch for Golden West in the fifth inning, hit a single to right-center scoring Albert, and giving the Lady Owls a scare. Citrus settled down however, and finished the game off as they got Jen Springer to hit into a fielder’s choice to end the inning and the game.
Citrus was led by Leticia Avalos and Ashlie Paredez in the win. Avalos was 3 for 4 with 1 run and 3 RBI’s in the win, while Paredez finished her day 2 for 4 with 2 RBI’s. With the win the Lady Owls improve to 36-10 on the season. Game two of the best two out of three series takes place tomorrow afternoon at 12:00 p.m. at the Citrus College Softball field.
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