SBCC rallies for 5-4 win to go 2-0 in Bash at the Beach

SBCC scored four runs in the bottom of the sixth on Saturday to rally past Orange Coast 5-4 and complete a 2-0 afternoon on Day 1 of the Bash at the Beach softball tournament at Pershing Park.

It was the fifth straight win and 10th in 12 games for the Vaqueros (17-6), who've outscored their last five opponents 60-9.

Santa Barbara cruised past Golden West 10-1 in the five-inning first game. Alyssa-Rae Jewell went 3-3 with two runs and Lyndsi King was 2-2 with three runs. King hit her first homer of the year in the second inning, giving the Vaqueros a 3-1 lead.

Rebecca Pullen pitched a seven-hitter vs. GWC, allowing just one run to improve to 9-3.

Orange Coast pitcher Montana Roelvink held the Vaqueros to two hits in the first 5 2/3 innings of the second game and the Pirates (5-13) took a 4-1 lead on Anna Manna's three-run homer in the third.

Madison McNamee (8-3) relieved Pullen after Manna's homer and quieted the Pirate bats, allowing no runs on two hits in the last 4 1/3 innings.

The Vaqueros were trailing 4-1 with two outs in the sixth when Maggie Jo Jackson singled through the left side. Lauren Ballard followed with a perfect bunt single that stopped three feet in front of the plate and Sydney Townes delivered a seeing-eye double to short left field that scored Jackson.

"Hope (Ballard) bunted that off a changeup, which caught the first and third baseman a little on their heels because they're not expecting us to do that," said SBCC coach Paula Congleton. "Our kids were popping up on the changeup, so we changed our strategy to started bunting those down."

Jewell, who's hitting .611 in her last five games and .471 for the year, beat out a grounder to third to bring in Ballard. Monica Salas hit a short fly over the third baseman's head for another RBI double that tied the game at 4-4.

Jewell scored on a passed ball to give the Vaqueros a 5-4 lead.

Salas, a freshman catcher/outfielder from Dos Pueblos High, went 3-6 in the two games with two RBIs, boosting her team-leading total to 28. She's batting .500 in her last five games (10-20) and leads the Vaqueros with a .474 average.

"We picked up our intensity in the sixth inning," said Salas. "That bunt really helped get us going. It was exciting and exhilarating. We could have just died down and taken the loss but we refused.

"I thought the third baseman was going to catch it but I'm glad she didn't. We pulled through and that was a great team win."

Jewell was 4-6 on the day and led off the fourth inning of the Golden West game with a single to left. Salas and Christal Vierra followed with singles and the Vaqueros scored five runs on three singles, two walks and an error to reach double figures in runs for the fourth straight game and 11th time this season.

Pullen got Dom Romero to line to Vierra at third in the top of the fifth and Vierra doubled up the runner at first to cap the 10-1 triumph.

"We started out a little sluggish in the second game but we stayed with it," said Congleton. "That shows our tenacity and it feels great to go 2-0 on the first day of our tournament."

The Vaqueros will play two solid teams on Sunday, taking on Saddleback at 11 a.m. and Fullerton at 3 p.m.