The Pierce College softball team took a 19-2 loss against Santa Barbara City College after holding on to the lead for the first four innings of the game on April 9.
Even with the Vaqueros taking the lead, Zaragosa held faith in her and her teammates going into the final inning of the game.
“We fought really hard,” Zaragosa said. “We had one bad inning, but we didn’t let that put us down. We decided to work harder as a team.”
The Brahmas scored in the first inning off a wild pitch. Kristjana Lewis (#23) scored the first run of the game and this wild pitch also allowed Alexis Menchaca (#8) to advance to third base.
Melissa Zaragosa (#19) stepped up as the catcher for the rest of the game after Cynthia Serrano (#7) got injured taking a pitch to her forearm when she was the starting catcher during the first inning.
With many stolen bases by both teams, the momentum changed in the fifth inning of the game when the Vaqueros Left Fielder Julianna Ortiz scored the first homerun of the game, batting in two runs.
“[Homeruns] just rally everyone up so that we can hit for hit, we hit for each other as a team,” Ortiz said.
The homerun put the Vaqueros in the lead, scoring five runs in the fifth inning.
The Vaqueros scored 13 more runs in the final inning of the game.
“For four innings we held them, we were 2-1,” Serrano said. “We didn’t make easy plays. We are going to work every pitch just like Coach said.”
The softball team’s next home game takes place April 18, at 2:30 p.m. against the Moorpark Raiders.