Oxnard spoils Vaqueros' WSC North opener, 11-2

Oxnard put up an eight-spot in the fourth inning on Thursday en route to an 11-2 softball win over SBCC in five innings in the WSC North opener at Pershing Park.

Sophomore shortstop Emily LoneTree hit her fifth homer of the year for the Vaqueros (4-11, 0-1), a two-run shot to right center in the bottom of the fourth. She leads the WSC North in homers and is No. 8 in the state.

Kimberly Santoyo went 2-3 with two RBIs and Miranda Guerrero was 2-4 with two RBIs to pace Oxnard's nine-hit offense. The Condors are 8-7 and 1-0.

SBCC had defensive problems all day and it started in the first inning when first baseman Alexandra Berg dropped a throw from LoneTree on the second batter of the game. The Condors took a 2-0 lead on two unearned runs thanks to Mia Garcia's RBI single and a run-scoring groundout by Brianna Lopez.

Oxnard broke it open in the fourth, sending 13 batters to the plate and scoring eight runs on six hits, two walks and an error. Santoyo had two singles in the inning and her second one scored two and made it 9-0. Lopez added an RBI single for a 10-0 lead.

Carson Dunckley started in the circle for the Vaqueros and gave up nine runs (six earned) on six hits in 3.1 innings.

"We just need to click as a team," said coach Justine Bosio. "We need to realize that every pitch of every at-bat of every defensive play is urgent and we need to play like it. We have a huge lack of communication right now."

Paige Powell, one of the Vaqueros' two starting pitchers, suffered an injury and wasn't available on Thursday.

"Carson threw really well on Saturday and she actually didn't throw too bad today. It's one of those situations where you have a couple of errors, then they get a couple of hits and it looks like she's throwing a lot worse than she is. And it happened to Cheyenne Walker also (the Vaqueros' reliever)."

SBCC only managed six hits against Oxnard's Kayla Kern. Designated player Taylor Tibbels singled in the first and fourth and scored on LoneTree's home run. She ended the game with a line drive to left and Victoria Valadez made an outstanding diving catch.

"We didn't come out as strong as we could have today," said Tibbels, a freshman outfielder from Carlsbad. "Their pitcher wasn't anything special. It's tough for our girls to wait on the ball. Coach B just talked to me and I had that good mentality before I went up to bat. I held my hands back and drove the ball."

The Vaqueros will host Chaffey in a non-conference game on Friday at 2:30 p.m.