Cats steal one from Dons

The Saddleback softball team defeated Santa Ana College, 4-3, on Tuesday at Bobcats Field.    Saddleback scored in the bottom of the seventh inning to pull out the win.

There's an old adage that a good team can often times win when they don't have their best stuff.  Never has it been truer than on Tuesday when Saddleback found a way to win.

Saddleback started hot, scoring twice in the bottom of the first inning to take a 2-0 lead.  Cristen Areopagita singled and later came around to score the opening run on a groundout from Macy Smith.  Later in the inning the Bobcats scored a second run on a wild pitch, with Ka'ui Garcia crossing the plate.

Saddleback led 2-1 heading to the bottom of the second inning when it received some help from the Santa Ana pitching staff.   Isabelle Gedeon led off the inning with a walk and then advanced to second on a passed ball.  She would later score on a sacrifice fly to left field off the bat of Sabrina Truesdell.

Santa Ana scored twice in the top half of the third inning as the Dons had four hits in the inning, chasing starting pitcher Macy Smith from the game.  Alexa Pfutzenreuter came on to get out of the inning with the scored tied at 3-3.

The game remained tied until the bottom of the seventh inning when Saddleback finally found its bats.  Areopagita led off the inning with a bunt single to the left side of the infield and promptly stole second base to put the potential winning run at second base.  Ka'ui Garcia then put down a perfect sacrifice bunt to move Areopagita over to third base.  The game ended with Smith came to the plate and hit a ball down the right field line that was misplayed by the right fielder, allowing Areopagita to come home with the winning run.

Saddleback is now 21-11 overall and 5-8 in Orange Empire Conference play with five games remaining in the regular season.  The Bobcats and Dons will play game two of the series on Thursday at Santa Ana.  The first pitch is scheduled for 2:00 PM in Santa Ana.