Sophomore right-handed pitcher Kristin Voller pitched seven innings and led her team to a 7-4 win Saturday against Fullerton College.
“She did a great job,” Assistant Coach Bud Murray said. “The strong lead in the first set the tone for the rest of the game. It dictates how the other team has to play, they have to try to get a big inning.”
The Falcons scored four runs in the first inning, then three more in the top of the sixth to take a seven-run lead before Fullerton was able to get on the board.
The win concludes the team’s four-game road trip, and will return home to host East Los Angeles College on Tuesday, March 14.
Despite having only three active pitchers and being plagued by injuries, Murray thinks the Falcons will win their share of games, if they can get healthy.
“We’ve had a lot of injuries that have cost us some ballgames, I know that. It takes time, but we’re swinging the bat better,” he said.
The Falcons are now 12-7 overall, and sophomore short-stop Erica Guzman said the win put the team back on track after a losing streak.
“We’re confident, and our bats were on, which is positive,” Guzman said, “We are talking, and communicating with each other, we just need to keep working hard, battling, and fighting. I know we can do better.”
Voller said, “A lot of people don’t give credit to the mental focus it takes to stay in the game for all 21 outs. It takes a lot out of you, but you just have to keep your head in the game and make it happen regardless of what happened the play before.”
She didn’t allow Fullerton to get a single run for the first five innings of the game until Eryka Springer hit a two-run home run in the bottom of the sixth.
The Falcons then gave up two runs in the bottom of the seventh, until they closed the game out with a win over the Hornets.
“They’re going to hit the ball,” she said, “if you are in college and playing softball you’re playing for a reason. They’re good, so they’re going to hit it, sometimes they’re going to hit it hard, you just have to deal with it…just go back in there and get the next batter.”
She added that she and her teammates know what they were about, they know how talented they are and they know they can get the job done.
The Fullerton win follows a shutout conference loss to Long Beach City College on Thursday, March 8.
Even with the 2-0 loss, Voller commented that they were hitting the ball, hitting it hard, and making plays, but they need to make adjustments earlier in the game.
“We need to finish plays, make sure we run everything out as hard as we can. If we have two outs, make sure we don’t give up a base hit. We’re going to catch our break and make stuff happen.”
