COSTA MESA, Calif. – Vanguard hosted the University of Saint Katherine for Opening Day as both teams suffered a pair of loses during their first double header of the year. The eighth ranked Lions move to 2-2 on the year after they won the games 8-0 and 5-3.
What Happened? The first game of the day saw the Pride's offense come out swinging, holding a 4-0 leader after one trip to the plate. They both came off RBI doubles from Bianca Morales (FR/Spring Valley, CA) and then Taylor Radtke (SR/Tucson, AZ). Still potent in the second inning, Jenna Title scored the fifth run off an USK error. Johanna Lewis (SR/Madera, CA) scored off a sacrifice fly and then Angelina Lopez (JR/Riverside, CA) was plated ff a single by Ashley Klopfenstein (SO/Indio, CA). As the bats went quiet, it took a double by Carli Row (FR/Riverside, CA) in the bottom of the fifth inning to score Karly Colenzo (JR/Downey, CA) all the way from first base and end the game via run-rule.
In the grudge match, both teams looked completely different. The Blue and Gold came out flat while the Firebirds put some early pressure on VU by taking a 2-0 lead. Vanguard cut it to a one run game off an RBI walk by Tittle with the bases loaded. Unfortunately, they would leave the bases juiced. Saint Katherine added to their lead taking advantage of an error by the Lions. As the outs ticked away, tension filled the stadium. The Pride responded as they generated four runs in the bottom of the sixth inning to effectively seal the win. RBI were awarded to Hannah Corrado (SO/Cypress, CA), Ariana Huffman who had come in to pinch hit, and two RBI to Lewis.
Why Its Important? The Lions had been sitting on a sour taste in their mouth since last season when they lost three of their final four games on their home field. Today, they got payback moving to 16-1 all-time against the Firebirds and capturing the programs 1,790th victory in the process.
Notable Performances: Standing out above the rest was Vanessa Dwyer (SR/Temple City, CA) who earned a pair of wins on the day by first starting game one and then coming in relief in game to with Vanguard trailing. Morales, the freshman was 4-5 on the day with three scored runs. Lewis was 3-5 while scoring a run and plating a pair.
What They Said: Vanessa Dwyer – "We had high energy as a team and we had trust and faith in each other, whether it was in the box or on the field and we came together because we have so much love and confidence in each other even when someone did something little we got hyped over every small detail of the game and that's what got us through brought it that energy."
What's Next: Friday, February 19th at Concordia University Irvine at 3:00 p.m.
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