The City College softball team swept the visiting Merced College Blue Devils in the Panthers’ 45th home opener doubleheader Tuesday.
In Game 1 the Panthers fell behind early as the Blue Devils scored three runs in the first inning. But the Panthers rallied in the seventh inning to win the game 5-4.
The Panthers started a little sluggish, but once the team got out of the early innings, the team played better, according to head coach Tim Kiernan.
“I thought basically once we got through that first inning, we did a pretty good job,” said Kiernan. “We missed some pitches, got the ball up, got behind quick. We hit the ball hard, but we hit right at people.”
Kiernan credited pitcher Emily Deatherage who “came in and did a really good job of kind of closing the door,” giving up one run in the seventh inning.
“But we came back and got it and won it in the bottom of the seventh,” Kiernan said. “But [Merced is] a good team, and that’s what we try to play, good teams in our schedule.”
In Game 2 of the doubleheader, the Panthers scored seven runs in the first two innings. Catcher Jordyn Farren put the Panthers on the scoreboard with RBI doubles at the bottom of the first. Rylee Retzer followed with an RBI single, then stole a base and scored on an RBI single from Casey Peck, who knocked in two runs, bringing the score to 4-0.
The Panthers tacked on three more runs in the following inning. Pitcher Veronica Dark pitched five shutout innings.
“In the second game, Dark, she hit all her spots,” said Kiernan. “She did a great job. She mixes speed, and she’s not overpowering, but she hits spots, and that was a key between last year and this year for her.”
Dark reflected on the team’s performance in Game 2.
“I think our team did really good coming out the second game,” said Dark. “If you don’t come out strong, then you can get behind easily, and then you’ll be behind the entire game. Sometimes you come out strong the first game, and you could get a little sluggish. But definitely coming out strong the second game and really picking up our energy, [we continued] it throughout the entire game.”
Catcher Farren said she felt like the team performed better in the second game.
“We came out stronger and on fire because we really wanted to win,” said Farren. “We wanted to put it down on them, and we didn’t want to let them back in the game. It feels amazing to win our home opener. Right now we’re actually 12-0 after these two games, so coming into the season 12-0 is amazing, and especially being able to go 2-0 at home for our first two games—it’s great. I really hope the rest of the season is like this.”
The City College Panthers softball team’s next home game is Saturday against Butte College Roadrunners at The Yard.
