Vaqueros split with Moorpark, remain a half-game back

SBCC rallied for four runs in the bottom of the fifth to win the opener 4-3 on Tuesday, then dropped a 5-1 decision to Moorpark in a WSC Gold softball doubleheader at Pershing Park.

Moorpark (18-6, 8-2) remained a half-game ahead of the Vaqueros (24-8, 8-3) in the race for the conference title.

The Raiders broke up a pitcher's duel between SBCC's Madison McNamee and Moorpark's Caitlin Vinyard with three runs in the fifth inning of the opener. McKenna Dungca drove in the first run with a single and Lacee Smollen delivered a two-run double to left for a 3-0 lead.

The Vaqueros struck back in the bottom of the fifth with four hits and two walks in the first seven batters. Maggie Jo Jackson drilled a two-run double to right-center and Sydney Townes followed with a RBI double to right.

McNamee provided the game-winner with a sacrifice fly to left that scored Alyssa-Rae Jewell and made it 4-3. McNamee (14-4) pitched a complete game, giving up three runs on six hits. She retired the last seven in order, ending the game with a comebacker to the mound by Julianne Rodriguez.

Lyndsi King opened the Vaquero fifth with a single and Lauren Ballard walked. Jackson's double brought them both home and cut the deficit to 3-2. Townes RBI single tied it at 3 and she was later thrown out at the plate by shortstop Jazmin Macias.

King went 2-3 in the second game.

"The first game, I was coming back from an injury," said King, a freshman first baseman from Baldwin Park. "When they scored three, all I was thinking about was hitting the ball hard so we can get back on top where we're supposed to be."

McNamee pitched another complete game in the nightcap, allowing five runs (four earned) on 10 hits with four strikeouts and three walks. The Vaqueros got six hits in the second game off Vinyard and Miranda Faulkner, who pitched the final three innings for her first save.

"We knew it would probably be a one-run game in the opener," said SBCC coach Paula Congleton. "Maddie did a good job of keeping their hitters off-balance and their pitcher was doing the same thing to us. We woke up in the fifth and strung some hits together."

Moorpark took a 4-0 lead in the second inning of Game 2. Rodriguez had a two-RBI single and Smollen drove in the fourth run with a sacrifice fly. The Vaqueros got their run in the fourth when Delainy Ogan doubled to left and scored on a single by King.

"We haven't been able to play well in the back of doubleheaders against quality teams the entire season," said Congleton. "We just can't seem to push over that edge. We're physically fit, we're prepared and it was the same kid on the mound. How come we can't continue what we did in the first game in the second?"

SBCC hosts L.A. Pierce on Friday at noon.