Griffins fall to City in PCAC opener

By David Dickens
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Updated: February 26, 2019

2019 COMMUNITY COLLEGE SOFTBALL

East County Sports staff report

DOWNTOWN SAN DIEGO (2-26-2019) – The recent rains left a majority of the Grossmont College women’s softball schedule unplayed, leaving the Griffins ill-prepared for Monday’s (Feb. 25) Pacific Coast Athletic Conference opener.

Despite rallying late with five runs in the seventh inning, Grossmont fell to host San Diego City College, 9-8, at Betty Hock Field.

With the victory, the Knights have now defeated Grossmont in two consecutive contests for the first time since 2013. City also won last season’s final meeting in what is, otherwise, a series dominated by the Griffins since the inception of the program.

The offense for Grossmont (1-5 overall, 0-1, PCAC) saw the top seven hitters in the batting order all collect basehits, leadoff batter Alizah Jameson (Mater Dei Catholic) scoring three times, while the next six batters all collecting RBI. However, three errors, three walks and a hit batter allowed four unearned runs to score for SDCC (2-2, 2-0 PCAC), which is tied for the PCAC lead with No. 3-ranked Palomar (9-2).

The Griffins’ big rally started when Jameson. Lexi Schmehr (Valhalla) followed with a basehit to left, moving to second base when the throw from the outfield mistakenly went to third base.

The pair of SDCC mistakes opened the flood gates, with runs scoring on the next three at-bats.

Sierra Marty (Ramona) singled to the left side to score Jameson, then Veronica Quirino (Morse) pulled a hard grounder through the left side, with both runners advancing into scoring position on another error in left field.

Ashley Nelson (Helix) followed with a shot to left fielder that went for a 2-run double to trim the deficit to 9-7, with Gabby Clippinger (West Hills) following with a base hit to place runners on the corners.

Designated player Julissa Cardenas (Calexico) singled home Nelson, then City finally recorded an out on a sacrifice bunt by second baseman Jordan Everrete (Serra), moving the potential tying and go-ahead runs into scoring position.

However, San Diego City escaped when pitcher Sabrina Figueroa registered a strikeout and a ground ball to the right side. Figueroa finished with five strikeouts, yet won despite allowing 11 hits and 8 earned runs.

For the Griffins, Schmehr, a left-side infielder, went 3-for-4 with a pair of RBI. Quirino and Nelson also registered a pair of basehits each.

Knights second baseman Zoe Manjarrez batted 2-for-4 with 3 RBI, while Carley Grant and Alexis Gonzalez each knocked home a pair of runs.
Next for Grossmont will be its conference home opener, entertaining Southwestern on Wednesday at 3 p.m.

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