In another battle with Mt. San Antonio College, the Cerritos College softball team fell victim to the long ball, as they dropped a 5-3 South Coast Conference decision on Tuesday. The loss puts the Falcons at 23-10 overall and 11-5 in conference play with five conference games remaining. They will travel to ECC Compton Center on Thursday for a 3:00 p.m. game. The Mounties (27-4, 14-2) solidified their hold on first place by hitting three home runs in the first three innings to give them an early lead.

Falcon freshman starting pitcher Kristen Voller (Norco HS) sandwiched a walk with two outs before surrendering a two-run home run to Aimee Rodriguez. The next batter, Taylor Jaurique, followed with a solo home run and Cerritos was down 3-0 before their first at-bat.

They did take advantage of two Mt. SAC errors in the bottom of the first inning to get a pair of the runs back. Sophomore second baseman Jenny Collazo (Paramount HS) drew a four-pitch walk, and then was safe at second base when Mountie second baseman Allegra Cisneros mishandled the ball trying to touch the bag on a ground ball by sophomore shortstop Camille Manzo (La Habra HS/Sterling, KS College). On the next play, freshman Kimberly Olivas (Warren HS) hit a ground ball to third base, but Priscilla Leon threw the ball away, which allowed Collazo to score. With two outs, sophomore outfielder Mackenzie Kutzke (Los Alamitos HS/University of Montana) singled up the middle for the second run.

But the Mounties would answer back in the third inning with a two-run home run from Alyssa Rasso for a 5-2 score. Two batters later, Voller was replaced by freshman Jissel Caballero (Warren HS), who went the rest of the way and allowed just one hit and a walk in 4 2/3 innings.

Collazo closed the deficit to 5-3 with a leadoff home run in the third inning. However, Mt. San Antonio pitcher Tiffany Kennedy went on to strike out six of the next seven batters and allowed just two hits the rest of the way. Kutzke, who reached base three times, doubled to lead off the seventh inning, but was stranded.

Photos by Daryl Peterson