With the game tied, 1-1 heading into the bottom of the fifth inning, the Cerritos College softball team surrendered four straight runs and dropped a 5-1 non-conference decision to Santa Ana College on Thursday. The loss was the fourth in five games for the Falcons (3-4), who will open defense of their South Coast Conference title at 3:00 p.m. next Tuesday at Los Angeles Harbor College.

Trailing 1-0 after the first inning, the Falcons received a lead-off solo home run from freshman third baseman Ariana Mejia (Gahr HS), which turned out to their their only offense on the day. Cerritos collected just three hits in the loss, with Mejia accounting for two of them.

In the ill-fated sixth inning, the Dons (5-1) led, 2-1 on an unearned run in the fifth inning. Alexandra Perkins led off the sixth inning with a solo home run against sophomore pitcher Lily Cornejo (Paramount HS), who surrendered all five runs (two earned) and took the loss. Another error led to a run-scoring triple by Marissa Ross, while Heather Robertson rounded out the Santa Ana scoring with an RBI single.

Photo by Daryl Peterson