Preparing for the Southern California Regional Playoffs, the Cerritos College softball team displayed some offensive power, as they clubbed a pair home runs and defeated Cypress College, 3-1 in a non-conference game at Nancy Kelly Field on Saturday. The Falcons (28-10), ranked #6 in Southern California, have now split their two games against the Chargers (31-6), who are ranked #2 in SoCal. Cerritos will close out their regular season at 3:00 p.m. on Tuesday when they host El Camino College in a South Coast Conference game.

Trailing 1-0 heading into the bottom of the fifth inning, freshman second baseman Haley Whitney (Warren HS) picked a perfect time to hit her first home run of the season, as she launched a 2-2 offering from Stephanie Luhman (17-4) to tie the game. On the other end of the power spectrum, sophomore first baseman Andrea Arellano (Downey HS) was able to launch her team-leading 11th home run of the season in the bottom of the sixth inning. Her shot cleared the center field fence and plated freshman pinch runner Sammie Klein (La Habra HS), who came in for freshman designated player Jamie Ramirez (El Rancho HS), who drew a two-out walk.

Sophomore pitcher Kayla Klein (La Habra HS/Texas A&M University), coming off a no-hitter two days earlier, surrendered five hits to the Chargers, but limited them to one run and struck out five batters. With runners at second and third in the third inning, Klein (11-4) got Tiffany Fox to pop up and end the inning after they scored their lone run. Cypress did not have a runner advance past first base until the seventh inning, but Klein struck out Mallory Cambell for the second out and saw Alyssa Palomino fly out to end the game.

The Falcons and Chargers will open Southern California Regional Playoffs the weekend of May 4-5.

Photo by Daryl Peterson