Hornets sting Dons on sophomore night

Santa Ana College women’s softball team lost in its final conference game on April 25 against Fullerton College with a final score of 6-0. SAC finished its season in fifth place within the Orange Empire Conference.

SAC wanted to end its season positively as it was sophomore night. Nine players on the team are sophomores who will not play next season.

Fullerton decided to ruin the celebration. Heading into this game, FC was undefeated in the conference 20-0, and was looking to keep the streak alive.

SAC was off to a bad start, in the first inning Fullerton was already up 1-0. After a wild pitch from pitcher Ale Guzman, FC’s second baseman Jordan Elias scored the first run.

In the second inning, FC capitalized on bad pitching from Guzman, leading them to score two more runs. Now up 3-0, the game was slowly getting out of reach for SAC.

Mel Avila hitting a single to Fullerton’s shortstop. el Don / Manny Hernandez

SAC had no answer for FC’s offense.

FC’s pitcher Macy Brandl made sure that SAC didn’t have a chance at all as she was striking them out.

SAC was lucky at times to get a hit due to Brandl’s pitching was close to perfect.

“My worst performance happened in my last game,” said SAC’s sophomore Sarah Casey. “It was pretty depressing.”

SAC was down 3-0, so they decided to switch pitchers and Julia Ariston went in for Guzman.

Ale Guzman was pulled after 4 innings, allowing 4 runs. el Don / Manny Hernandez

Ariston felt FC’s dominance right away as FC’s first baseman Veronica Moore hit a homerun right off the bat.

On top of that the next play FC hit a pop-up to third base that allowed them to score once again. FC was now up 5-0 at the top of the fourth inning.

To put the last nail in the coffin, Elias scored the final run after a single hit to center field from FC’s center fielder Haley Garcia.

The Hornets had solved the game within four innings. Their offense was way too much for SAC to go up against. FC showed SAC why they are undefeated and in first place in the conference rankings.

Despite the rough season SAC had, Coach Ross was still proud of the team.

Dons ended their season with an overall record of 15-24 as well as going 6-15 in conference games. Their season wasn’t what they wanted it to be as they missed out on the playoffs; despite going on a four-game winning streak at one point as a last effort to make the playoffs.