No. 1 Comets rout No. 9 Hornets, 10-2
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | R | H | E | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Palomar | 0 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | 0 | 10 | 11 | 2 |
|
Fullerton | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 6 | 2 |
FULLERTON, CA. (4/18/2023) – Continuing its season-long supremacy over the Orange Empire Conference, the Palomar College softball team rolled to a 10-2 victory over Fullerton on Tuesday in a nonconference matchup of two of the state's top 10 teams.
No. 1-ranked Palomar improved to 29-1 while dropping No. 9 Fullerton to 23-11 as the Comets defeated the Hornets for the second time this season. Palomar was coming off a doubleheader sweep of No. 5 Cypress on Saturday, giving the Comets three wins in four days over the top two teams in the OEC.
Palomar finished the regular season with an 11-0 record against OEC teams, capped off by a pair of five-run innings to subdue host Fullerton.
A two-run triple to right field by sophomore shortstop Elisa Haas highlighted a five-run second inning for the Comets, and a two-run single to right by freshman right fielder Faith Steffany was the big hit of a five-run fourth inning as Palomar batted around with five hits while taking advantage of two Fullerton errors.
The Comets collected 11 hits in the game as sophomore first baseman Allyson Amato had a double and a single, Steffany had two singles, and sophomore catcher Ellison Hazlett had two singles and two RBIs.
Benefitting from the offense was sophomore pitcher India Caldwell, who won her 20th game of the season against one loss while allowing one earned run on six hits with no walks and eight strikeouts in five innings of work in the circle.
Tuesday's win was also the third straight victory for the Comets against three of the top pitchers from the Orange Empire Conference. On Saturday, Palomar roughed up 19-game winner Emily Rush of Cypress for six runs on eight hits in 3 1/3 innings on the way to an 8-0 victory in Game 1 of a doubleheader, and the Comets handed Chargers pitcher Kaitlyn Reynolds just her second loss in 10 decisions in a 5-2 win for Palomar in Game 2 of the twinbill.
Against Fullerton on Tuesday, the Comets chased 18-game winner Allyson Fuentes with the fourth-inning rally.
The Comets return home to Bradley Park for Pacific Coast Athletic Conference games against Southwestern on Wednesday at 3 p.m. and San Diego Mesa on Friday at 1 p.m. before hosting College of the Canyons in a nonconference doubleheader on April 22.