The Long Beach City College softball team suffered a 6-2 South Coast Conference loss to visiting No. 11 state-ranked Cerritos College on Thursday at LBCC. The loss dropped the Vikings to 21-12 overall and 12-6 in the SCC while the Falcons improved to 25-10 and 15-3 in conference play.
The game was close for the first four innings before Cerritos rallied for two runs in the fifth, a run in the sixth, and two more in the seventh.
Long Beach jumped out to an early 1-0 lead after freshman Candice Shadwell (pictured) lined a solo homerun to right field off Cerritos starting pitcher Kayla Klein in the bottom of the second.
But the Falcons answered back to tie it up with a run in the third. Back-to-back walks and a single by Ariana Mejia loaded the bases for Cerritos. Shadwell struck out Stephanie Olivas and appeared to induce a fielder's choice ground out at the plate from Danah Vasquez, but LBCC catcher Reina Bernal dropped the throw to allow pinch runner Samantha Klein to score.
The Falcons still had the bases loaded with one out, but Shadwell got out of the jam by getting Ashley Miller to hit into an inning-ending double play.
Cerritos broke the game open with two runs in the fifth after Vasquez and Miller both hit RBI singles.
Long Beach rallied to get a run back in the bottom of the fifth thanks to a clutch two-out single by Melissa Yepez that scored Eileen Rivera who led off the frame with a double.
The Falcons got a RBI single from Andrea Arellano in the sixth and Jamie Ramirez drove in a pair with a single in the seventh to close out the scoring.
Shadwell (16-11) took the loss for the Vikings. She went the distance and allowed five earned runs and nine hits. Shadwell struck out five and walked eight.
Kayla Klein picked up the complete-game win for Cerritos to improve to 9-3. She allowed two runs, four hits, and struck out seven. Ramirez went 2 for 3 with 2 RBI to lead the Falcons at the plate.
Long Beach returns to action on Friday (Apr. 12) at 3 p.m. when it hosts Rio Hondo College in a non-conference game.
Photo by Chris Ruiz