Comets one win away from state tourney

SAN MARCOS (5/12/2023) – Palomar College moved one win closer to advancing to the California Community College Athletic Association state softball tournament on Friday as the Comets claimed Game 1 of their Southern California Super Regional series against Santiago Canyon with a 6-2 victory at Bradley Park. 

Palomar can clinch the best-of-3 series with another win Saturday in Game 2 at noon. If a third and deciding game is necessary, it will immediately follow Game 2. The winner of the Super Regional series will move on to the eight-team state tournament which begins May 18 at Mt. San Antonio College. 

 Improving their record to 39-1 on the year, the top-seeded Comets overcame a 2-0 first-inning deficit against the No. 8-seeded Hawks by scoring three runs in the bottom of the first inning before adding one run in the third and two more in the fourth to drop Santiago Canyon to 25-19 for the season. 

Winning pitcher India Caldwell improved her record to 26-1 by shutting out the Hawks on three hits over the final six innings after allowing two runs on four hits in the top of the first inning. The sophomore right-hander retired 14 of the last 15 batters she faced while finishing with no walks and four strikeouts. 

Sophomore first baseman Allyson Amato sparked a 10-hit Palomar attack by providing two extra-base hits, including a leadoff double to right-center field to start the first-inning comeback. Amato scored one out later on an RBI single up the middle by freshman right fielder Faith Steffany, and a walk to sophomore second baseman Malachy Russell-Millen preceded a run-scoring single to left by freshman third baseman Itzell De Los Rios to tie the score at 2-2.  

A walk to sophomore shortstop Elisa Haas loaded the bases, and following a lineout to center by sophomore catcher Ellison Hazlett, sophomore center fielder Cadee Herrmann was awarded first base on an obstruction call against the Santiago Canyon catcher, allowing Russell-Millen to score the go-ahead run. 

"We knew they had a good offense, and they came out swinging," said Comets coach Lacey Craft. "I liked how we answered back in the bottom of the first." 

De Los Rios connected on a leadoff double to right to begin the third inning, and after advancing to third on a wild pitch, she scored on a groundout to second base by Hazlett to pad the Palomar lead to 4-2. 

Sophomore left fielder Jonessa Hebreo led off the fourth inning with her first of two singles, and she came around to score on a triple to right by Amato. After being forced to remain at third on a groundout to first and a flyout to center, Amato scored on a two-out single up the middle by Russell-Millen to account for the game's final run. 

"We had some good two-strike battles at the plate," Craft said. "Mal got a big hit for us with two outs, and Itzell had a couple of nice hits as well." 

In other SoCal Super Regional results on Friday, Game 1 winners included No. 2 seed Mt. San Antonio over No. 7 seed Bakersfield, 12-1; No. 3 Cypress over No. 6 Ventura, 4-0; and No. 5 Fullerton over No. 4 Cerritos, 8-3.