On Thursday, the Cerritos College softball team turned four walks into runs and went on to post a 10-1, 5-inning South Coast Conference win over visiting Long Beach City College. The Falcons moved a game closer to first place in the conference with the win, as they improved to 16-6 overall and 8-2 in conference action. The Vikings slipped to 17-4 overall and 9-3 in conference play. The team will host East Los Angeles College at 3:00 p.m. next Tuesday.

Freshman third baseman Brooklyn Bedolla (Mayfair HS) got the offense started with a lead-off opposite field home run in the bottom of the second inning off LB City pitcher Daisy Torres (13-4), who limited the Falcons to just one run in their first meeting, a 7-1 Vikings win.

The second inning continued with freshman outfielder Angelica Gonzalez (Sierra Vista HS) getting hit by a pitch and then stole second base. Freshman shortstop Miranda Diaz (California HS) followed by reaching base on a throwing error, which allowed Gonzalez to come around and score. A bloop single by freshman outfielder Alyssa Capps (Downey HS) was followed by freshman first baseman Richere Leduc (California HS) getting hit by a pitch to load the bases. Freshman second baseman Alyssa Sotelo (El Rancho HS) followed with a two-run single to cap off the four-run inning.

Freshman pitcher Samantha Islas (Roosevelt HS) was cruising against the Vikings and retired the first eight batters before allowing a pair of singles in the third inning. She got Jaylene Ross to fly out and end the scoring threat. Islas (11-3) did allow an unearned run in the fourth inning, but finished the game by striking out the final four batters. She limited LB City to four hits and struck out six on the day.

Cerritos wasn't done offensively, as they scored five more times in the third inning. Consecutive walks to freshman outfielder Negasse Williams (Aliso Niguel HS) and Diaz was followed by an out and a sacrifice bunt by Capps, which put runners on second and third. Leduc was then walked to loaded the bases, which set the table for Sotelo (pictured, above), who cleared the bases with a double to left field. Bedolla added an RBI single in the inning, while an infield out by Leduc in the fourth inning plated Gonzalez, who led off with a double.

Sotello went 2-for-4 and drove in five runs on the day, while Najera and Bedolla also had a pair of hits each.

Photos by Daryl Peterson