Locked in a pitching dual for the first five innings of their South Coast Conference game against Los Angeles Harbor College on Friday, the Cerritos College softball team went on to drop a 4-1, 8-inning decision. The first five innings of their game showed a combined three hits, as the Falcons Sierra Gerdts (Montebello HS) and the Seahawks Maisie Weishoff were both on their game. LA Harbor did get on the board in the top of the sixth inning, but Cerritos (12-14, 7-8) responded with a run of their own in the bottom of the stanza. The Seahawks (7-14, 4-9) broke the game open with three runs in the top of the eighth inning.

A single by Ricki Justiniana was followed by another base hit from Weishoff, with Cerritos outfielder Itzel Soto (Long Beach Millikan HS) bobbling the ball, allowed Justiniana to advance to third base. The next batter, Kayla Averill broke the scoreless tie with a sacrifice fly.

Unable to figure out Wieshoff through 5 1/3 innings, sophomore first baseman Keira Bolinas (Torrance HS) drew a walk. With two outs, sophomore outfielder Victoria Medina (Whittier HS/Rio Hondo College) laced an RBI triple into right field, with tied the game. Cerritos left runners on first and third in the sixth inning.

LA Harbor led off the seventh inning by getting a runner on second base with one out. When Kimberly Sainez grounded to sophomore shortstop Tena Spoolstra (Mayfair HS), she threw to second base to cut down the lead runner. The next batter, Jessica Robledo, followed with a base hit, which would have scored the run.

Gerdts was replaced to start the eighth inning by sophomore Ally Udell (Whittier Christian HS), who allowed a double to Weishoff and then the eventual game-winning RBI single to Averill before being taken out in favor of Gerdts. The Seahawks followed with a double, and with two outs, Oaulenei Malepeai added a pair of insurance runs with a two-run single.

On the day, the Falcons collected just three hits, with Spoolstra seeing her 16-game hitting streak come to an end. Bolinas reached base three times with a hit, walk and hit batter.

Photos by Daryl Peterson