Palomar Hit Parade Puts Comets in Quarterfinals
Bakersfield, CA - The Palomar College softball team, the #3 seed out of Southern California, had a hit parade on Friday night to close out the opening day of the 2019 CCCAA State Softball Championships. The Comets tallied 16 hits on the game and defeated NorCal #2 San Jose City College 11-3 In five-innings.
Palomar came firing out of the gates, and did so with two outs in the top of the first. A single, walk, and hit by pitch loaded the bases up with Comets, and brought sophomore pitcher Allie Hughen to the plate. Hughen made good on her chance and helped her own cause in the process ripping a double that just missed going over the wall in left-center field and drove in a pair. The Comets didn't stop there as freshman first baseman Riley Penrod and sophomore center fielder McKenna Crawford came up with back-to-back RBI singles to give Palomar an early 4-0 lead.
In the top of the second, the Comets kept their foot on the gas scoring six more runs. Sophomore right fielder Sarah Fisher led things off with an RBI single to left. Freshman Kendall Kates hammered a three-run homer to left, and Penrod added another RBI with a single to left. Sophomore Jillian Zamora brought in Penrod a few AB's later with a single to left, pushing the Palomar lead to 10-0.
Fisher gave Palomar another run with a homer to left in the top of the third. San Jose meanwhile, finally got some offense going in the bottom of the third. Freshman center fielder Sam Brenny led the inning off with a double down the left field line. Sophomore second baseman Haile Landrum followed that up with a bunt single, pushed up the left side of the infield. Two batters later, freshman first baseman Kayla Rooney hit a single to left field that drove in both Brenny and Landrum.
In the bottom of the fourth, San Jose put another run on the board this time via a solo home run from sophomore catcher Natasha Sachdeva. Unfortunately for the Jaguar fans, that was the only offense San Jose mustered on the evening.
Palomar freshman Catalina "Cat" Aguilar (18-2) would get the win, pitching the final three innings of the contest. At the plate, Palomar was paced by Fisher who was 3-for-4 with three runs and a pair of RBIs. Hughen also went 3-for-4, while Penrod finished 2-for-4.
For San Jose, their five hits were spread across five different players. All five were 1-for-2, including Rooney who drove in two runs.
With the win, Palomar (38-5) advances to the Quarterfinals of this weekend's State Championships and will play SoCal #1 Mt. San Antonio College tomorrow at 11:30 AM at Bakersfield College. San Jose City (38-5) drops into the elimination bracket and will play Sacramento City College tomorrow morning at 11:30 AM at Cal State Bakersfield.
