Santee, Calif. - The Golden Eagles softball team split Thursday's doubleheader at San Diego Christian College with a 3-2 loss followed by a 4-3 win over the Hawks. The first game of the doubleheader took extra innings to decide a victor, while La Sierra took the second game in dramatic come-from-behind fashion. The team's record through four complete games is now 2-2.
Game 1 was a pitcher's duel, with each starting pitcher going the distance. Sarai Camacho gave up only one earned run over 8 1/3 innings, while giving up 10 hits in the loss. Kendra Kuper picked up the win for the Hawks, surrendering seven hit and two runs. Camacho held a slight edge in the strikeout tally 9-6 over Kuper.
Through the first three innings, the two teams were locked in 1-1 tie, until the Hawks manufactured a run in the bottom half of the sixth inning. But the Golden Eagles, not to be outdone, knotted the score at 2-2 by taking advantage of an error and wild pitch by the Hawks and eventually sending the game into extra innings.
After the two teams were held scoreless in the eighth, the Hawks sacrificed the potential winning run to third base and cashed in the winning run with a walk-off single to win the game.
In Game 2, the Hawks took an early 2-1 lead by scoring a run in each of the first two innings. The Hawks scored another run in the fifth inning, increasing their lead to 3-1.
Heading into the final inning of play, Brianna Gutierrez started things off with a one-out single to shortstop, followed by a Taylor Gimondo single to right field, setting the stage for Andrea Sleigh who launched a 3-run homerun over the left field fence to give the Golden Eagles the lead, and eventual win, at 4-3.
Vanessa Froussine came in and shut the door to secure the victory, going a complete game, giving up three runs (one earned) on five hits.
The team will be back in action tomorrow in their home opener against Biola University. The two teams will complete a suspended game from last week, prior to playing their scheduled doubleheader. The action gets underway at 11:30am.
