Throughout their South Coast Conference softball game at Nancy Kelly Field on Tuesday afternoon, Cerritos College received nine free passes. But it wasn't until the sixth inning that they capitalized on one of them, scoring one run due to four straight walks. A two-run single followed, but it wasn't enough, as the Falcons dropped a 5-3 decision to Mt. San Antonio. The loss drops the Falcons to 12-7 overall and 6-2 in conference play, The team will now host Los Angeles Harbor College at 3:00 p.m. before playing 11 of their next 12 games on the road.

Mt. SAC pitcher Emily Seidel (12-2) issued nine walks on the day, including the leadoff batter in five of the first six innings of the game. Aside from the first inning, where the Falcons received a base hit, they were only able to hit the ball out of the infield once until freshman outfielder Arianna Hernandez (Santa Fe HS) drilled a two-run single to get the team to within 5-3 after watching the Mounties take a sizable lead. Freshman pitcher Jamie Ramirez (El Rancho HS) followed that hit with a fly ball out to end the inning. 

After scoring an unearned run in the top of the second inning, the Mounties got to Ramirez (3-3) in the third inning, as they added four runs on four hits and a pair of walks. Sophomore Kayla Klein (La Habra HS/Texas A&M University) came on in relief and issued a hit and both walks in the stanza. But for the remainder of the game, Klein allowed just three hits and struck out two batters.

Hernandez went 2-for-2 with a pair of walks on the day, while sophomore second baseman Gina Ayala (Santa Fe HS/University of Louisiana at Monroe) drew three walks. Freshman shortstop Stephanie Olivas (Warren HS) also was walked twice for the Falcons, while Kimberly Hernandez had three of the Mt. SAC hits.

Photo by Daryl Peterson