Cougars split; Vaqs’ Mulligan sets record
- Updated: March 5, 2022
2022 EAST COUNTY PREP SOFTBALL
By Adam Paul
CHULA VISTA (3-5-22) – An early barrage of runs by the Otay Ranch Mustangs was the difference as they were able to slow the bats of the Steele Canyon Cougars 6-1 in Hilltop tournament action on Saturday morning.
Mustangs slugger Maya Loper drove in three runs in the top of the second inning with a three-run home run to give them a 4-0 lead.
Steele Canyon would get its lone run in the bottom of the fifth inning when Sa’Ni Marshall slugged a solo blast.
Abby Curran led the Cougars with two hits and Jazmin Williams had a double in the contest.
Taking the circle for the start was Emma Shellstrom who went four and two-thirds of an inning in which she gave up six runs on eight hits while walking one and striking out two, Kamea Seunarine came in and tossed one and one-third of an inning of relief in which she allowed a hit while walking two and striking out two.
Steele Canyon 6, Point Loma 1
In the second contest of the day, the Steele Canyon Cougars collected eleven hits on the day and used four runs scored in the first two innings to really put things away against the Pointer on Saturday.
Kamea Suenarine would drive in the first run of the contest when she doubled to center field allowing Jazmin Williams to come into score to give them a 1-0 lead, the following batter Janea Wilson would drive in Allyson Haessly with a base hit to left field to make it 2-0.
Leading 2-0 in the bottom of the second inning the Cougars added a couple more runs when Williams doubled to left field scoring both Gabrielle Ortega Alves and Laryza Serrano to extend the lead to 4-0.
Point Loma would score their only run of the contest in the top of the fourth inning.
Later in the contest, both Haessly and Mariah Mata would drive in runs to round out the scoring for the Cougars.
Suenarine took the circle for the Cougars and picked up the victory as she allowed only three hits and one run over six innings of work in which she fanned four on the day.
The Cougars with the split on the day improve to 8-3 on the season.
El Capitan 13, EC-Southwest 1
El Capitan standout Hailey Mulligan really had a monster of a day as she helped propel the El Capitan Vaqueros to the convincing win on Saturday over the Southwest El Centro Eagles in Hilltop tournament action.
Mulligan started her day with an RBI single that scored Alyssa Fierro to make it 1-0, later in the inning Maddie Taylor would drive in Mulligan to give them an early 2-0 lead.
In the second inning, Dom Garcia would drive in Shelby Vars and Mulligan followed that with a three-run blast that scored Fierro and Aubrey Thorne.
The Vaqueros would really put the contest out of reach in the top of the fourth inning when Garcia doubled in Fierro which was followed by back-to-back home runs by both Mulligan and Ava Gall.
Mulligan’s second home run of the day was a two-run shot while Gall hit a solo shot.
The Eagles would score their lone run of the contest in the bottom of the fourth inning which made the score 11-1.
More of the same in the top of the fifth inning as Mulligan blasted her third homer of the day for a two-run shot to finish off the scoring.
Zoey Michalek Rosales would also drive in a run in the contest for the Vaqueros.
Brooke Horn picked up the win for the Vaqueros as she allowed only one run on five hits and struck out seven over her five innings of work.
SPECIAL NOTE – El Capitan’s Hailey Mulligan with her big day at the plate with three home runs and eight runs batted in etched her name in the CIF Record book in both categories for most in a game. Her three home runs tied the all-time CIF record for most in the game and the eight RBIs ties her for seventh all-time with a few others. She also went a perfect 4-for-4 on the day at the plate.
Holtville 7, West Hills 4
Despite being outhit the Vikings would take advantage of all the opportunities afforded them on the day to win the Hilltop tournament contest on Saturday.
Holtville would score three runs over the second and third innings and add three more in the top of the fourth on a base hit by McKinzie Toth which was followed by a miscue that allowed two runs to score to extend the lead to 6-0.
But the Wolf Pack were not out if it as they tried to make a comeback starting in the bottom of the inning starting with a Gianna Burgin fielders’ choice that brought home, Naomi Kai. Later in the inning, they would take advantage of an error by the Vikings that allowed Burgin to race around and score to make it 6-2.
Sophia Martinez would drive in both Lily Youngdale and Caillia Rooks to pull the Pack within 6-4. But that would be the closest they would get as the Vikings scored another run in the top of the sixth inning and shut down a one-out double by Amaya Angeli in the bottom of the inning to preserve the victory.
Marina Morales, Naomi Kai, and Sophia Martinez all had a pair of his on the day for West Hills. Martinez would also have a pair of RBIs.
