After spotting host East Los Angeles College a 3-0 lead through the first four innings, the Cerritos College softball team scored 10 unanswered runs to post a 10-3 South Coast Conference win. The victory keeps the Falcons (25-10, 13-4) in second place in the South Coast Conference. The team will play three straight home games in as many days this week, with Los Angeles Harbor College (8-30, 1-18) coming to Nancy Kelly Field for a 3:00 p.m. game on Thursday.
Cerritos scored five times in the top of the fifth inning to take the lead and then capitalized on several Huskies errors in the seventh inning to add five more unearned runs.
The 25 wins marks the 16th time in head coach Kodee Murray's 20 seasons (no season was held in 2021) that her teams have reached that milestone, and the first time since 2017.
In the fifth inning, freshman outfielder Angelica Gonzalez (Sierra Vista HS) led off with a walk, while errors on consecutive sacrifice bunts led to the first run of the inning. With freshman outfielder Negasse Williams (Aliso Niguel HS) on second base, freshman second basebal Alyssa Sotelo (El Rancho HS) drove her in with a base hit, while freshman third baseman Brooklyn Bedolla (Mayfair HS) tied the game with an RBI single. A run-scoring sacrifice fly from freshman catcher Vicky Najera (El Rancho HS) put the team in the lead, with Bedolla coming in to score on a passed ball for the final run of the inning.
Freshman pitcher Samantha Islas (Roosevelt HS), who struggled at times, finished strong and retired the last eight batters in a row to secure her 17th win of the season. She finished the game allowing three runs (one earned) and struck out seven batters.
The big blow in the top of the seventh inning for Cerritos was a two-out bases loaded double from freshman first baseman Richere Leduc (California HS), which cleared the bases. A pair of errors opened the door for the Falcons, who locked down the win.