In a late inning walk-off home run, the City College Panthers softball team defeated Big 8 Conference rivals Cosumnes River College Hawkeyes 3–2.
“I thought we pitched well,” said coach Tim Kiernan of the Feb. 26 home game. “We did pretty good. I thought we made most of the plays we needed to make. We left a few people on base, but other than that we played well. They’re [Consumnes] a good ball club.”
The Panthers were able to get on the scoreboard in the bottom of the second inning when Deja Acosta hit an infield single. Acosta then stole second and scored on an RBI double from Rylee Retzer, bringing the score to 1–0.
The Hawkeyes tied the game in the top of the fourth inning after pitcher Emily Deatherage hit a batter, who then scored on a double, making the score 1–1.
CRC scored another run at the top of the seventh, bringing the score to 2–1 when the umpire ruled that catcher Jordyn Farren was blocking the plate, which gave CRC the run. Kiernan argued the call with the umpire, who ejected Kiernan for the rest of the game.
In the bottom of the seventh with two outs and a runner on first, Elisa Cueva hit a walk-off home run to end the game.
“All I was thinking of is I just got to hit it out to the outfield somewhere,” said Cueva. “I felt more relaxed when I knew I was going to do something big right there. I think we performed as best as we could. We got runs when we needed to, and we did that.”
