Coyotes Softball Drop Doubleheader to Roadrunners

The Cerro Coso softball team played its first home game since February 1st, when the Coyotes hosted Desert in a doubleheader on Friday, March 10th. The Coyotes lost both games to the Roadrunners losing the first game 13-4 and the second game 15-5. The weather was not the best for either team as they played in the wind and dealt with the rain as the Coyotes dropped the seventh straight game. Head Coach Domonique Hernandez spoke on his team's performance in both games.

"I just thought that right out of the gates the other team was hitting the ball and if we made the routine plays and kept them to 0 or one runs, I think the outcome would have been better throughout both games," he said. "Also, just too many errors. If we limit the errors, I believe we will be in these games, and that is all it is it just comes down to our defense. Their pitcher was throwing strikes, they had some good timely hits, they are not a bad team and that goes for both games. I think the second pitcher threw a little bit harder for College of the Desert so our girls had to adjust a little bit. When it comes to our pitchers, I thought they were throwing strikes, sometimes you don't get the calls from the umpires, it gets tough and it's out of our control. I can't really do anything about that. The weather was crazy it was raining, and I think that had an effect as well. I believe you come out here being ready to go, have fun, and want to work to win. I can see the difference from the way we play and the way College of the Desert plays. They were out there making diving plays, going the extra mile and I believe if we make the routine plays and go the extra mile as well it's a momentum change. I think that is all it was. They had the momentum the majority of the game and we got stuck trying to push our way trying to get our momentum going."

After playing two doubleheaders in February on the road, Hernandez spoke on being able to play in front of their home fans who braved the weather to watch his players compete.
"It felt great. We definitely will have more home games. Even though the conditions we still had fans out here and we heard them cheering. We definitely enjoyed that," he said.
Cerro Coso are back on the road traveling to Victor Valley on Wednesday to open conference play with the first pitch set for 2 p.m. The Coyotes then have another doubleheader facing Chaffey on the road Friday with the first game scheduled to start at noon.

Looking ahead to starting conference, Hernandez said he wants his players to know Desert is the type of competition they will see in conference. He believes his team has the quality to compete in the Inland Empire Conference and they are working towards that. But he also wants his players to have fun as they compete against their conference opponents.

In game one, Cerro Coso started with Coran Rogers in the circle and she threw four innings giving up 13 runs. Emily Curtis went into the circle in the fifth as the relief pitcher threw a scoreless inning. She started the second game and threw all five innings giving up 15 runs. In the fourth and fifth innings, Curtis and the Roadrunner pitcher dealt with the ball being wet from the rain.
In game one, Cerro Coso trailed 9-0 going into the bottom of the third inning. They had struggled to get on base and put runners in scoring position. Leadoff batter Molly Hopkins and Rogers both got on base. Mattie Lane was able to move the runners to third and second, and Kyla Collins hits a sacrifice ground ball to score Hopkins for the first Coyote run. Andrea Romero hit a line drive into the wall that scored Rogers and a fielding error allowed Romero to reach home. Cerro Coso went into the fourth trailing 9-3.

Desert scored four runs with two coming from errors to lead 13-3 going into the bottom of the inning. Leadoff batter Juanita Parra flew out to center field but Kristianna Calderon hit a double. Allee Thompson hit an RBI single to send Calderon home for the last Coyote run.
After a 30-minute break, both teams retook the field for the second game with Curtis as the starting pitcher. In the top of the first, Cerro Coso went down 5-0 due to a few errors and in the bottom of the inning had only Kyla Collins reach base on a single.

In the top of the second, Cerro Coso allowed a run and trailed 6-0 with two out. But the Coyotes struggled to find that final out and gave up three more runs before closing the inning. The Coyotes offense could not get going and had the side retired.

In the third inning, Desert reached first on a hit with the leadoff batter but the Cerro Coso defense made a double play at second and first. They ended the inning by getting the fourth batter to pop out for a scoreless third. Cerro Coso had Thompson, Trinity Carrasco, and Rogers all walk to load the bases with no outs. Mattie Lane struck out swinging, Collins hit a sacrifice fly ball to score Thompson, and Romero hit a two-run double to cut the deficit to 9-3.

In the fourth, Cerro Coso were unable to keep Desert from extending its lead to 13-3. The offense was unable to score as two batters struck out and one was picked off trying to steal second.
In the fifth, the Coyotes held the Roadrunners to a run on a single after giving up a single and double the previous two batters. The offense had one last chance to try and extend the inning. Rogers struck out and Lane reached first on a hit. Collins hit a ground ball to move Lane to second, and Romero got a hit to put Lane on third. Curtis went up and hit a two-run triple to score Lane and Romero, and reach third safely with two outs. Para was unable to bring Curtis home as she struck out for the final out of the game.