The Cerritos College softball team broke open a 3-2 lead against Long Beach City College on Thursday and scored three more times for a 6-2 South Coast Conference win. The victory improved the Falcons to 25-10 overall and 15-3 in conference play, while the Vikings fell to 21-12 and 12-6. The team will play their final four regular season games at home and start with a 3:00 p.m. conference game against East Los Angeles College on Tuesday.

The game was close for the first four innings before Cerritos rallied for two runs in the fifth, a run in the sixth, and two more in the seventh. Long Beach City jumped out to an early 1-0 lead after Candice Shadwell lined a solo home run to right field off sophomore pitcher Kayla Klein (La Habra HS/Texas A&M University) in the bottom of the second.

But the Falcons answered back to tie it up with a run in the third. Back-to-back walks to freshman designated player Jamie Ramirez (El Rancho HS) and sophomore first baseman Andrea Arellano (Downey HS) was followed by a single by freshman third baseman Ariana Mejia (Gahr HS) to load. Shadwell struck out freshman shortstop Stephanie Olivas (Warren HS) and appeared to induce a fielder's choice ground out at the plate from freshman outfielder Danah Vasquez (Santa Fe HS), but LBCC catcher Reina Bernal dropped the throw to allow pinch runner Sammie Klein (La Habra HS) to score.

Cerritos broke the game open with two runs in the fifth after Vasquez and sophomore second baseman Ashley Miller (West Torrance HS/North Platte, NE CC) both hit RBI singles. The Falcons then got a RBI single from Arellano in the sixth and Ramirez drove in a pair with a single in the seventh to close out the scoring.

Kayla Klein picked up the complete-game win for Cerritos to improve to 9-3, as she allowed two runs, four hits, and struck out seven. Ramirez went 2-for-3 with two RBI to lead the Falcons at the plate, while Arellano and Mejia each recorded a pair of hits.

Photo by Daryl Peterson