Comets sink Vikings, advance to state tourney

SAN MARCOS (5/11/2024) – Palomar College has earned a return trip to the California Community College Athletic Association State Championship Tournament after the Comets clinched a sweep of their Southern California Regional softball series against Long Beach City College.

Palomar claimed a 5-1 victory Saturday in Game 2 of its second-round SoCal Regional best-of-3 series against the Vikings, capping a two-game sweep following Friday's 1-0 triumph for the hosts in the series opener. The Comets will be one of four teams representing the South Region at the state tourney which begins May 16 at West Valley College in Saratoga.

Sophomore pitcher Guilianna "Gigi" Clavel delivered her second complete game in as many days to subdue Long Beach City. Clavel limited the state's second-leading hitting team to one run on five hits after spinning a one-hit shutout the previous day. Clavel also helped her own cause at the plate when her two-out, two-run single propelled the Comets to a 2-0 first-inning lead.

Freshman second baseman Josephine Heuberger followed her stellar performance in Game 1 by going 3-for-4 at the plate with a double and two singles in Game 2, and freshman first baseman Breanna Lutz slugged her team-leading seventh home run in the third inning to spark the Palomar offense.

"Our players are realizing that all of their contributions are leading to the team effort to win," said Comets coach Lacey Craft. "Gigi pitched two phenomenal games back-to-back and got a big hit to get us going today, but we're showing that we are not a one-dimensional team.

"Josephine has been on fire in the leadoff spot, and the bottom of the order has been contributing. And when you start playing teams of this caliber in the playoffs, you have to play good defense and we've been doing that."

As opposed to waiting until the seventh inning to score as they did in Game 1, the Comets jumped out to a quick lead in the opening frame of Game 2 when Clavel followed a leadoff single by Heuberger and a two-out walk to sophomore third baseman Itzell De Los Rios with a single to the gap in left-center field to score both baserunners.

Clavel retired seven of the first eight batters she faced from the circle, but the visitors got on the scoreboard in the top of the third inning with a double, a single and a sacrifice fly to cut the Comets' lead in half.

It didn't take long for Lutz to offer a response when she lined a one-out solo home run over the fence in left-center in the bottom of the third. The state's top-hitting team wasn't done there as sophomore center fielder Maddie Scott followed with a single to right, stole second base and scored on a single up the middle by De Los Rios for a 4-1 lead.

Sophomore shortstop Tess Altevers-Harris scored the final insurance run for Palomar when she drew a walk to lead off the fourth, stole second, advanced to third on a sacrifice bunt by sophomore designated player Mariah Diaz and scored on a single to right by freshman catcher Kayla Visser, the No. 9 batter in the Comets' lineup.

Clavel allowed a walk and a single in the top of the fourth but no further damage in that inning, and a leadoff single by the Vikings in the fifth was erased by an inning-ending double play turned by Altevers-Harris and Heuberger. The only other Long Beach City baserunner the rest of the way reached on a two-out walk in the seventh before Clavel secured her 27^th win against four losses. She finished with two walks and three strikeouts.

Heuberger and De Los Rios accounted for five of the Comets' nine hits.

Palomar, seeded No. 3 for the SoCal Regionals after winning the Pacific Coast Athletic Conference championship, will take a 39-4 record into the state tournament. No. 6 seed Long Beach City, the South Coast Conference runner-up, finished its season at 32-12.

Joining the Comets from the South Region at the state tourney will be the other top three seeds. No. 1 seed Fullerton, which finished the regular season as the top-ranked team in the statewide coaches poll, overcame a Game 1 loss to No. 9 seed Cerritos on Friday and posted two victories over the Falcons on Saturday to advance. No. 2 seed Cypress, the defending state champion, completed a two-game sweep of Orange Coast on Saturday; and No. 4 seed Mt. San Antonio needed to win a deciding Game 3 after splitting the first two games against No. 5 El Camino.