Cats win two at Cuesta Tourney

The Saddleback softball team won its opening two games of the Cuesta College Tournament on Friday in San Luis Obispo.  The Cats defeated the host Cougars (8-2) before a walk-off win against Monterey Peninsula College in game two (3-2).

Saddleback had a quick start with the bats in the opening game.  The Bobcats rapped out 17 hits in breezing past Cuesta, 8-2.  Ka'ui Garcia was a perfect 4-for-4 while both Averi Moon and Lola Winningham had three hits apiece.

Saddleback jumped out to a 5-0 in the top half of the second inning when it sent nine batters to the plate.  Winningham started the scoring when she tripled home Jenna Juarez with the opening run of the game.  It was the second of six straight hits from the Bobcats in the inning.

Kylee Cammarato started on the mound and pitched a complete game in improving to 3-2 on the season.  Cammarato struck out six in six innings of work.

Game two had a different feel as Saddleback failed to score through the first four innings in falling behind Monterey Peninsula College 2-0 heading to the bottom of the fifth inning.  The Bobcats then tied the game with a pair of runs in the inning as the bats finally woke up.  The big blow was a two-out triple from Ehva Cifuentes-Zombulovic to score Winningham with the tying run.

Saddleback and MPC were tied at 2-2 heading to the bottom of the seventh when the Bobcats struck again to gain the win.  Cifuentes-Zombulovic was again the star with the walk-off hit, singling home the winning run (Winningham) from third base with one out in the inning.

Isabelle Gedeon (pictured) started on the mound and pitched into the sixth inning before giving way to Colette Howren.  The duo surrendered just one earned-run while striking out eight and surrendering just three hits all afternoon.  Howren was credited with the win, pitching the final 1.2 innings without giving up a hit.

Saddleback is now 6-4 overall for the season.  The Bobcats will play again tomorrow when they face Cuesta College (11:00 AM).