Pirartes spilt doubleheader 1-1 with Rams
Gomez homers for win as PC splits doubleheader vs. FCC
Home runs aren’t new to Porterville College’s Annisa Gomez but Tuesday’s three-run blast over the left field fence for a 3-0 walk-off win against visiting Fresno City left the freshman at a loss for words.
With both teams scoreless heading into the eighth inning of the first game of a doubleheader against Central Valley Conference opponent, the Rams of Fresno (7-8, 3-2 CVC), Fresno loaded the bases but PC (10-5, 2-1 CVC) came away unscathed by stranding runners at third with a flyout to PC’S Raquel Gonzalez in left field for the final out.
With one out and two runners on, Gomez fouled off two hits. But on a 3-2 count she homered for the win.
“I started screaming at second [base],” Gomez said about the hit.
Prior to the hit, Gomez said she was nervous, saying, “I was really nervous, having that runner on third. I don’t know. And then us having a really good defensive inning before. I wanted to pull through.”
Gomez led the team at the plate, going 2-for-2 with the three-run homer while Gonzalez, Shantae Gutierrez and Ashley Rojo all had one hit each.
“Anytime you beat Fresno, it’s a good day,” PC head coach Vickie Dugan said. “And to have it 0-0 in the [eighth] and they get to third base on the tiebreaker, and we hold them. And then we come in and we get two people on and Annisa hits that walk-off
right over the 200 [feet] left field sign. It doesn’t get any better.”
On the mound, Alexis Rodriguez, picked up a big win after giving up no runs on one hit, two walks and one strikeout.
“Smalls did a great job at pitching,” Dugan said. “She really kept them down as far as hitting. Our defense played well. It was just a good game all around. For both teams, it was a good game all around.”
The second game started off well for the Lady Pirates as they picked up three runs — two off of bases-loaded walks — to take a 3-0 lead at the bottom of the third. But after PC’S Chelsea Ramos scored her second run of the game in the second, their bats struggled and PC was held scoreless.
“Second game, we were coming off the real high,” Dugan said. “And then they came and walked two of us in and you could just see the momentum start to go down because walk after walk. And instead of holding that lead, we went down and we were trying to work our way back up from that.”
Down 4-1 going into the top of the third, Fresno started to rally and picked up two runs on a Rbidouble and a Rbi-single to cut the Pirates’ lead to 4-3. Another Rams’ RBI tied the game at 4-all in the fourth, but a two-run seventh inning gave Fresno the 6-4 win to end the day with each team coming away with a win.
In the second game, Rodriguez allowed three runs on four hits and two strikeouts in 2 1/3 innings. Ashley Eyraud relieved Rodriguez and finished the game. Eyraud gave up three runs on six hits and had two strikeouts. Offensively, Ramos led the team by going 1-for-2 with a double, two runs scored and two walks. Rojo also finished with two hits.
“Again, we should’ve answered back and we didn’t,” Dugan said. “So kudos to Fresno. They’re always a good team and they hit the ball when they needed to hit the ball to win that game. But again, it was 4-4 going into the seventh.”
She added, “Only one hit allowed in that first game. And that’s excellent pitching. So we took one from them and I’m happy with that. And we’ve got another chance to see them when we play the third. We’ll get at it.”
Porterville is at home for the rest of the week but they face a tough CVC schedule with a Reedley (17-3, 4-1 CVC), whose ranked third in the state, on Thursday and Sequoias (9-9, 2-1 CVC) on Saturday.
“This is a tough week,” Dugan said. “I think we came out and made a statement by our win against Fresno in the manner that we won. I think that should make a statement to everybody in the conference that we’re legit.”