Comets open playoffs with perfect start

SAN MARCOS (5/5/2023) – Sophomore right-hander India Caldwell pitched a perfect game and freshman designated player Mariah Briceno went 3-for-3 at the plate, including her first home run of the season, as the top-ranked Palomar College softball team began postseason play Friday with a 10-0 victory over Allan Hancock College. 

The five-inning win at Bradley Park came in Game 1 of the best-of-3 first-round series for the CCCAA Southern California Regionals. The Comets can advance to the second round with another win Saturday in Game 2. First pitch is scheduled for noon, and Game 3 if necessary would follow. 

Caldwell retired all 15 batters she faced, including 10 by strikeout, while improving to 25-1 on the season. She struck out the last five Bulldogs batters while spinning her second perfect game of the season. 

"Indie did a great job throughout the game," said Comets coach Lacey Craft, whose team improved to 37-1 on the season. "She was feeling fresh after a week-and-a-half off." 

Caldwell, a Mission Vista High School product who was recently named the Pacific Coast Athletic Conference Pitcher of the Year, was supported by an 11-hit attack which included a double, RBI single and two-run home run by Briceno, a first-year player out of Mission Hills High.  

"Mariah has really been stepping up, and a lot of other people in the line-up contributed as well," Craft said. 

Briceno's two-run blast to center field in the fourth inning was followed by another home run by sophomore pinch-hitter Aaliyah Rivas to cap off a six-run rally which led to the mercy-run rule going into effect for the ninth straight game for the Comets, who extended their current win streak to 12 games. The homer to left for Rivas was the team-leading 15^th of the season for the recently named PCAC Player of the Year. 

Briceno ignited a two-run second-inning rally with a leadoff double to right, which was followed by a walk to sophomore center fielder Cadee Herrmann, a two-out RBI single by freshman right fielder Faith Steffany, and a throwing error by Allan Hancock (23-14) when Steffany stole second base for her second theft of the game. 

A leadoff double to right by sophomore second baseman Malachy Russell-Millen and RBI singles by Briceno and Herrmann led to a pair of third-inning runs, and the Comets sent 10 batters to the plate in the fourth, which also included a two-run double to center by sophomore catcher Ellison Hazlett. 

Steffany and Hazlett each had two hits, and Russell-Millen reached base three times with a walk, double and hit by pitch. The No. 1-seeded Comets played errorless defense, while the Bulldogs, seeded No. 16, contributed three errors to the Palomar cause.

The eight winning teams which survive the first round of the SoCal Regionals will advance to the second round of regionals May 12-13, and those four survivors will advance to the eight-team CCCAA state tournament May 18-21 at Mt. San Antonio College.