Sophomore Brooke Loard (Millikan HS) had 11 strike outs in her Viking debut but the Long Beach City College softball team couldn't hold a late lead for the second straight game and suffered a 3-1, nine-inning loss to visiting San Diego Mesa College on Friday.
Loard pitched well despite taking the loss in the complete-game effort. She held San Diego Mesa scoreless all the way until the sixth inning when the Olympians loaded the bases with no outs. But Loard was able to limit the damage to just one run. After giving up a RBI single to Desirae Bordine, she got a pair of pop outs and a strike out to halt a potential big inning.
LBCC took a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the second after sophomore Doreen Corella (San Pedro HS) led off with a bunt single and then moved all the way to third base after sophomore Erika Balboa's (Gahr HS) sacrifice bunt was misplayed. On the following play, Corella was thrown out at home trying to score on sophomore Andrea Barba's (Cypress HS) sharp grounder to shortstop. But Yulissa Dominguez (Santa Fe HS) followed with a bunt single and Balboa came in to score on a wild throw at first base.
The Vikings nearly pulled out the victory in the bottom of the seventh as they had the potential game-winning run on second base with one out. But sophomore Brianna Alvarez (Montebello HS) grounded into a double play with Dominguez getting thrown out at home for the final out of the inning.
With the international tie-break rule in effect in the ninth, San Diego Mesa went on to score a pair of runs to pull out the victory.
Long Beach, now 3-3 overall, is back in action on Saturday (Feb. 6) at 11 a.m. when the Vikings travel to Southwestern College for a non-conference game.