Softball: No. 20 Vikings rally falls short, drop 4-3 non-conference game to Citrus

The No. 20 state-ranked Long Beach City College softball team suffered a 4-3 non-conference loss to visiting Citrus College on Saturday at LBCC.

The loss was the Vikings' third straight and dropped their overall record to 10-6-1 while Citrus improved to 5-8.

Trailing 4-1, Long Beach rallied for a run in the bottom of the sixth, but left the bases loaded. Freshman Cassie Garcia (Banning HS) came off the bench to smash a pinch-hit homerun over the centerfield fence to start the rally.

Citrus starting pitcher Destinee Quinn would eventually walk the bases loaded, but with two outs struck out sophomore Brittney Holden (Big Bear HS) on three pitches to get out of the jam.

The Vikings came right back to put a scare in the Owls in the seventh.

Sophomore 3B Melissa McDougall (Millikan HS) led off with a double to center. Freshman DP Justine Meddings (Kennedy HS) followed with a line-drive double to left-center field to drive in pinch runner Sammie Goerlitz (Lakewood HS) to cut Citrus' lead to 4-3.

Freshman pinch hitter Jordan Collier (Millikan HS) then snuck a base hit up the middle to put runners on the corners with no outs.

But LBCC once again stranded the potential tying and go-ahead runs on base. Freshman CF Danielle Hannan (El Segundo HS) lined out to third, freshman LF Danelle Zapien (Whittier Christian HS) fouled out to first, and sophomore 2B Desiree Villegas (El Rancho HS) grounded out to short to end ball game.

Citrus opened the game with three runs in the top of the first off LBCC starting pitcher Angela Arias (Western HS). Brittany Vasquez had a RBI double and a single by Kristan Breslau along with a LBCC fielding error allowed a pair of runs to come in.

Vasquez drove in Brittney Moreno with another double in the fifth for Citrus' final run.

Arias (5-5) went the distance in the loss. She allowed four runs (three earned) and seven hits over seven innings.

Sophomore 1B Michelle Contreras went 2 for 2 to lead LBCC at the plate. She smacked a RBI double in the fourth to bring home Hannan.

Quinn allowed three runs and seven hits in the complete-game effort to improve to 6-2. Vasquez was 2 for 3 with 2 RBI to lead the Owls' offense.

Long Beach returns to action on March 8 when it travels to El Camino College Compton Center for a 3 p.m. South Coast Conference game.