Bakersfield trip results in three wins for Comets

BAKERSFIELD, CA (3/22/2025) – A weekend getaway to Bakersfield proved to be successful for the Palomar College softball team, which swept two games from Bakersfield College, 12-2 and 12-5, before shutting out Folsom Lake College with a 7-0 triumph.

 

The three nonconference wins improved Palomar's record to 19-2 at the midway point of the regular season. The Comets, ranked No. 2 in the latest 3CFCA poll, extended the state's longest current win streak to 15 games.

 

In Friday's 12-2 win over Bakersfield, Alexis Huey and Isabella De Filippis combined for six hits while batting in the third and fourth spots in the order as the Comets rolled past the Renegades. Huey, a freshman first baseman, drove in Palomar's first run with a first-inning double to right field after sophomore third baseman Breanna Lutz led off the game with a single to center.

 

Huey reached with an infield single in the third and came around to score on a single to center by De Filippis, and Huey added a sacrifice fly in the seventh which scored Lutz.

 

Palomar broke open a 4-0 game with a five-run sixth inning highlighted by a two-run double by freshman left fielder Taylor Armstrong. De Filippis, a sophomore catcher, capped a three-run seventh with her third hit of the contest which plated sophomore second baseman Josephine Heuberger with the final run of the game.

 

Freshman designated player Lauren Doepping drove in two runs with an RBI double in the third and a run-scoring single in the sixth. Also finishing with two hits apiece were Lutz and Armstrong as the Comets supported winning pitcher Maddie Bedolla with a 15-hit attack.

 

Bedolla, a sophomore left-hander, pitched six innings and held Bakersfield scoreless until the hosts scored two runs in the sixth inning. Bedolla allowed four hits and two walks with eight strikeouts while improving her record to 9-0.

 

Sophomore right-hander Nevaeh Haywood pitched a perfect seventh inning with one strikeout.

 

Prior to Friday's loss, the Renegades had won seven of their previous eight games. Palomar took on Bakersfield again on Saturday before finishing off the weekend against Folsom Lake later that day.

 

Huey put the Comets on the scoreboard with two out in the top of the first inning of their second game against Bakersfield when she hit a full-count pitch over the fence in left field for her first home run of the season.

 

The hosts took a 3-1 lead in the bottom of the second with three runs on four hits off Haywood, but the lead was short-lived as Palomar scored six runs in the top of the third before the Renegades could record the first out of the inning. Doepping highlighted the rally with a three-run home run to left and the Comets went on to send 13 batters to the plate, scoring nine runs with the help of four Bakersfield errors to mount a 10-3 advantage.

 

Bedolla took over for Haywood in the pitching circle in the bottom of the third and blanked the Renegades over four innings, limiting the hosts to one hit with one walk and one strikeout.

 

Doepping led off the seventh inning with a solo blast to center for her second homer of the game and third four-bagger of the season. Lutz closed out the Palomar scoring with her second hit of the contest, a single which scored freshman right fielder Dominique Garcia.

 

Freshman right-hander Kiara Flaviani started the seventh inning in the circle and allowed two runs before Haywood re-entered with one out and the bases loaded. Haywood needed to face just one batter to close out the game she started, inducing a grounder which Heuberger and freshman shortstop Nalia Nuanez turned into a game-ending 4-6-3 double play.

 

Heuberger had three of Palomar's 14 hits, including a double to left to score Lutz and ignite the big third-inning rally and another RBI double down the left-field line in the same inning to score Lutz again, capping the nine-run outburst.

 

Freshman centerfielder Gisele Gonzalez provided two hits with a double and a single, and Bedolla was the winning pitcher for her 10th victory in as many decisions and her second in as many days against Bakersfield, which fell to 12-12 on the season.

 

Haywood pitched a complete-game shutout in the ensuing win over Folsom Lake, improving her record to 9-2. It was Palomar's 10th shutout of the season and dropped the Falcons to 7-19.

 

The Comets return to Pacific Coast Athletic Conference action March 25 with a doubleheader at Imperial Valley. The Comets have another PCAC contest at San Diego City on March 27 before returning home March 29 for a non-conference doubleheader against No. 4 Cypress.