Needing to fight back from a 5-2 deficit against Los Angeles Harbor College on Tuesday, sophomore catcher Briana Lopez (Norwalk HS) completed the comeback with a walkoff home run for a 7-6 South Coast Conference win for the Cerritos College softball team. It was the second walk-off win of the season for the Falcons (8-6, 1-0), who will host Long Beach City College at 3:00 p.m. on Thursday in another conference game.

The comeback started in the bottom of the fifth inning when freshman outfielder Brianna Spoolstra (Mayfair HS) doubled home a pair of runs with two outs to get the team to within 5-4. After the Seahawks (6-3, 0-1) put a run on the board in the top of the sixth inning, the Falcons responded with a pair of their own. Sophomore second baseman Rain Vega (La Mirada HS) led off with a base hit and moved to second base on a ground out. Freshman outfielder Kayla Aros (Torrance HS) stepped up and lined a triple in the right field corner to bring pinch-runner Melissa Corona (Gahr HS) home. Freshman third baseman Kayla Hernandez (Santa Fe HS) tied the game with a sacrifice fly.

Lopez, who led off the bottom of the seventh inning, drove a 1-1 offering from LA Harbor pitcher Jessica Robledo over the right-center field fence for the game-winning run. The round-tripper was the state-leading seventh home run of the season for Lopez.

LA Harbor took a 3-0 lead on Cerritos in the second inning, which chased starting pitcher Sierra Gerdts (Montebello HS). Freshman Allisyn Udell (Whittier Christian HS) kept the team close and allowed four runs (three earned) in 4 2/3 innings of relief. After giving up an RBI single in the sixth inning, Udell saw Gerts return to the circle to retire four of the final five batters to earn the win.

Cerritos was limited to just six hits by six different players, with four of those hits driving in runs.

Photos by Daryl Peterson