By Oscar Martines
The Huskies’ softball team’s efforts came up short against Los Angeles Harbor College ending with a 4-3 loss.
The Huskies were off to a good start in the first inning.
Center fielder Nathalie Cordova led the charge with a single to left field, putting the Huskies on bases.
Following a strikeout and a bunt that helped Cordova move to second base, she would take advantage of a pitching error that flew over the catcher’s glove.
This allowed her to reach home plate and score the first run for the Huskies.
The Huskies’ inning would end with a strikeout.
The next innings saw both teams play very good defense, preventing any runs from the opposing team and rewarding each pitcher with a couple of strikeouts.
At the top of the third inning, Cordova continued to show a strong display at bat as she hit a double to midfield.
Following her double, she took the opportunity to steal a base and put the Huskies in a position to increase the lead.
LA Harbor pitcher Natalie Quezada would respond to the play by striking out and walking her next two opponents at bat.
Alexis Alvarez, third baseman for the Huskies, would then hit an RBI single to left field, leaving one Husky to be sacrificed for an out.
The play gave Cordova enough time to score again for the Huskies, giving them a 2-0 lead to end the top of the inning.
LA Harbor would not go away quietly, however, as they looked to overcome the two-run disadvantage.
At the bottom of the third, LA Harbor’s batters would finally respond as catcher Ashley Parra began the inning with a single to left field.
Husky pitcher Eliana Rocha would strike out her next opponent.
LA Harbor’s first baseman Rosalie Alvarado took to bat next and hit a single to middle field, giving LA Harbor a much needed confidence boost.
This confidence would be seen in the next play as left fielder Haley Veazie would also hit a single to left field, moving the players at base closer to home.
Unfortunately, Parra would be caught out at third base, with the Huskies slowing down any potential momentum from LA Harbor.
On the next play, shortstop Angela Gerber hit the ball to far midfield, allowing Alvarado to score the first run for LA Harbor.
As LA Harbor attempted to score their second run, Gerber tried to advance to second base but was caught out at second base, ending the inning and preventing LA Harbor from tying the game.
With a 2-1 score at the top of the fourth inning, the Huskies had pressure to score again to increase their lead over LA Harbor.
With an out on hand, designated player Arianna Cobian was allowed to walk.
On the next play, Cobian would steal a base to move herself closer to increasing the Huskies’ lead.
With one out remaining, the next Husky hit a double to left field, opening the way for Cobian to score.
The game became a two-run game.
The bottom of the fourth saw LA Harbor’s comeback.
Designated player Asia Bryant began the bottom of the inning with a double to midfield, followed by third baseman Dajhay Norton’s fly out.
This allowed Bryant to move to third base.
With an open opportunity to score, second baseman Alexis Mena would strike a double to left field which moved Bryant to home.
This cut the Huskies’ lead to just one run.
Another out in the inning put LA Harbor’s backs against the wall.
They needed to score to keep themselves in the game.
Parra responded with a single to left field that was just far enough for Mena to score and tie the game at 3-3.
The Huskies would be unable to respond in the next inning and leave LA Harbor with potential room to score and lead the game.
At the bottom of the fifth inning, Veazie led the way for LA Harbor with a single to midfield, followed by stealing second base.
LA Harbor were now in position to take the lead, and Gerber took advantage of that by hitting an RBI double to midfield giving LA Harbor the 4-3 lead.
The Huskies would close out the inning and halt any more scoring opportunities for LA Harbor.
“We let them back in the game and we should’ve had a better pitching performance, and also our at bats kind of went dead, too,” Erika Blanco, Huskies head coach, said.
The Huskies were unable to respond in the final two innings, ending the game with a tough loss.
“I think our defense did great. They’ve been doing really well and there were some plays where outfielders were throwing some runners out and the infield did really well. I thought they did great by scoring early, but you gotta keep on scoring throughout the game and we just did not do that,” Blanco said.