Ayala's Game-Winning Home Run Seals Another Day of Wins for SBCC
SANTA BARBARA – The SBCC softball team remained perfect on the year on Friday, sweeping its first home doubleheader of 2023 against Porterville with a 10-2 win in six innings followed by a tight 4-3 victory to close the day.
The Vaqueros (7-0) have now surpassed their longest season-opening win streak in recent memory of six games in 2016.
SBCC 10, Porterville 2
In the first game of the day, the Pirates (2-6) took a 2-0 lead in the second inning, but it was all SBCC the rest of the way.
Second baseman Jessica Reveles got things started in the bottom of the second with a single to center field. After making her way to third, she got the Vaqueros on the board via an Alexia Ayala single. First baseman Mellanie Barth later tied it 2-2 capitalizing on a Porterville error.
The score remained tied until the bottom of the fifth, when SBCC put up three runs. Shortstop Delaney Neely and pitcher Joslyn Soinila both reached with a single and a double down the left field line, respectively. They also both scored on one of two errors in the inning by the visitors. Reveles later hit an RBI single to bring in a run by pinch hitter Hailey Abdilla to put the Vaqs up 5-2.
SBCC stayed hot in the sixth. After Soinila shut Porterville's offense down with a pair of swinging strikeouts, the Vaqueros went back to work and scored another five runs to end the game an inning early. Ayala and Julianna Ortiz both scored on errors. Neely then scored on a Sarah Hammonds RBI single. On the following at bat, Reveles knocked an RBI single to left and two more Vaquero runs came in to end the game.
Another strong performance by Soinila saw her give up just one earned run while she threw six strikeouts.
SBCC 4, Porterville 3
Game two followed a very different script, with a back-and-forth last few innings ending in favor of the Vaqueros.
Porterville once again took the initial lead, going up 1-0 with a run in the top of the first. SBCC answered in the third, as pitcher Lauren Indermuehle scored on a single through the left side by Neely. Santa Barbara took its first lead of the game two innings later, as Indermuehle brought home Mackenzie Ensign with a single of her own.
The Pirates took the lead back in the top of the sixth, taking advantage of an SBCC mistake to score two runs on the same play. In the bottom of the inning, Ayala provided one of the biggest hits of the year.
Emily Travers took over on first base as a pinch runner for Elliana Ryan, who had led off the inning with a single to right field. After a pair of groundouts, Ayala stepped up to hit a big two-run shot over the right field wall. It was SBCC's first home run of the season and it couldn't have come at a better time, going down as the game-winner after the Vaquero defense picked up outs on all three Pirate batters in the top of the seventh.
Along with throwing four strikeouts in seven innings of work, Indermuehle led the way with three hits and an RBI. It was her second three-hit performance of her career, both times coming in the last four games.
Neely and Ensign also added two hits apiece.