IVC bounces back, edges City
I SanMPERIAL — The Imperial Valley College softball team bounced back from a pair of Pacific Coast Athletic Conference losses last week to edge Diego City 3-2 here on Wednesday afternoon.
The Arabs completed the first half of PCAC play with a 6-2 record and currently hold the No. 2 spot in the conference standings behind unbeaten Palomar.
IVC’s matchup with San Diego City was its first in the second-round of action, giving the teams some familiarity with one another.
As a result, the teams played three innings of no-run ball, until IVC broke the game open in the bottom of the fourth inning.
Andrea Quiroz walked to open the inning and later found herself on third base after Gabby Ramirez’s bunt resulted in a free base after the ball was overthrown to first.
Skylar Tyson then stepped up to the plate for battle with San Diego’s Ava Kopperschlager, whose pitch got away from her, allowing Quiroz to score from third.
Kopperschlager eventually walked Tyson, yet was still able to close the inning without allowing another IVC run.
IVC put up another run in the bottom of the fifth off the bat of Priscilla Silva, who doubled in Hazmin Guardado from second base with two outs.
Guardado walked to open the winning and moved to second on a sacrifice bunt from Paula Cifuentes.
San Diego City then brought in Maria Gonzalez-Smith to pitch, who walked the first batter she faced before recording a strikeout to end the inning.
In the circle for IVC, Arab sophomore Jalyn McClain earned the start throwing 5 1/3 innings of scoreless ball, before giving up a pair of hits.
Sinclaire Mays then came in to relieve and permitted just one hit in the inning that resulted in a pair of San Diego runs to tie the game, 2-2.
Mays was unfazed and worked to close the inning with a pair of strikeouts, stranding two San Diego players on the base path.
IVC did not take long to answer back as the team took the lead in the bottom of the sixth off a bases-loaded single from Adrienne Taylor.
San Diego then worked to get out of the inning, before facing Mays again in the top of the seventh, who recorded two strikeouts to open and close the inning and the game.
With the result, IVC moves to 20-6 overall and 7-2 in PCAC action. The team returns to the field at 3 p.m. on Tuesday, traveling to face San Bernardino Valley.