The Pasadena City College softball team has had late leads in recent games, but the end result still finished in defeat. After winning two straight v. Rio Hondo College, the Lancers are reeling in a 7-game losing streak.
PCC (5-25 overall) stands in eighth place in the 9-team, South Coast Conference, but are still just two wins from possibly finishing as high as a tie for fifth place with Compton.
On April 10, East Los Angeles swept a doubleheader over the Lancers, 9-1 in seven innings, and then 3-2. In the opener, Alexis Garcia batted 4-for-4 and Mistie Mares knocked in team's lone run on a double in the sixth inning.
In the second game, PCC took a 2-1 lead in the top of the seventh on pitcher Genesis Ramirez's RBI single to right that scored Natalie Huelster, who had singled and stole second. The Lancers later loaded the bases but could not push another run across the plate.
The Huskies responded in the bottom of the seventh, winning it on a walk-off, 2-run double ripped by Nathaly Ochoa. Ramirez was the hard-luck losing pitcher despite scattering nine hits with no walks in 6.2 innings of work. Designated player Aileen Melendres batted 2-for-3 and Breanna Negrete delivered a RBI single in the fifth.
In what might be classified as the most heartbreaking loss of the season, the Lancers lost a non-conference battle at Chaffey, 11-9, in eight innings. PCC led 5-1, then 7-2, but the Panthers tied it in the sixth. The Lancers regained an 8-7 lead in the seventh only to have Chaffey send it to extra innings at 8-8. Negrete, PCC's talented starting shortstop, slugged an RBI double for yet another lead at 9-8 in the extra frame. But Chaffey won it on a 2-run single by Allison Waite.
Negrete had the best individual day by a Lancer this season as he was a perfect 5-for-5, knocked in four ribbies, scored three runs and bombed a solo home run over the left field fence in the fifth. Ramirez was 2-for-4 with a double.
Negrete, an All-SCC candidate, leads PCC with a .372 average, eight doubles, a triple, two homers and 17 RBI. Melendres, who has mostly started at catcher, is next best at a .323 hitting clip.
Negrete takes a swing at ELAC
PCC was swept by state #7-ranked El Camino College on April 8, losing 7-0, then 11-0 in five innings. Mariah Vazquez pitched well in the defeat, holding a potent Warriors lineup to just seven runs in a 7-inning complete game.
Vazquez had an even better outing at Bakersfield on April 4, pitching another complete game, allowing just four earned runs in a 7-1 defeat. Melendres went 2-for-3.
Directed by second-year head coach Audrianna Gutierrez, Pasadena plays a non-coference contest at Allan Hancock on Monday April 14, then faces tough conference opponents in SCC-leading and state #5 Long Beach on Tuesday, April 15 and #15 Mt. San Antonio on Thursday, April 17.
The Lancers have had to play all of their game this season away from the City of Pasadena due to unsafe conditions at Robinson Park.