So close!

The Saddleback softball team split a double-header with San Diego Mesa College on Friday at Bobcats Field.  The Bobcats fell in extra innings in the opener before Colette Hpwren pitched a gem to get past the Olympians in game two.

Friday was a day that could be best described as "SO CLOSE".  In the opening game, Saddleback was one out away from taking the win from Mesa when the Olympians scored a controversial run to tie the game in the top half of the seventh inning.  The runner was originally called out on the plate, but the umpiring crew got together and changed the call to safe which eventually put the game in extra innings.  Mesa then proceeded to score four runs in the eighth inning in taking the opening game, 8-5, in extra innings.

Game two was "SO CLOSE" for a completely different reason.  Colette Howren caried a perfect game into the seventh inning before it was broken up with a solo home run by Mesa with one out in the inning.  Saddleback has one perfect game in program history, thrown by Veronica Belleza in 2020 in a five inning win over San Bernardino Valley College.

Howren was on a mission after the painful loss in game one, putting the team on her back while the offense struck for 11 hits in the win.  She finished with eight strikeouts and no walks in improving to 4-2 on the season.  Howren threw just 63 pitches all game, 53 of which were strikes.

Saddleback scored two runs in each of the first two innings, sending a message that the opening loss was nothing but a thing.  Ehva Cifuentes-Zombulovic found her stroke, finishing 3-for-4 with three RBI in the win.  Her double in the bottom half of the first inning scored Millie Maher with the opening run of the game.  She then had a single to score Tessa Arciniega in the bottom half of the second inning to give the Bobcats a 4-0 advantage.

Saddleback is now 12-7 overall heading into Orange Empire Conference (OEC) play next week.  The Bobcats open conference play at Santa Ana on Tuesday at 3:00 PM.