Valiant Effort By Softball In Loss to State #7 Long Beach

The Pasadena City College softball team pressured state #7 and host South Coast Conference leader Long Beach City with a terrific pitching performance by Mariah Vazquez, but the Vikings broke a 2-2 tie with a late rally to down the Lancers, 5-2, on Tuesday.

PCC (5-26 overall) grabbed a 1-0 lead in the first on a Breanna Negrete RBI single that scored Lucero Alcaraz, who walked, stole second and was sacrificed to third by Alexis Garcia.

Vazquez shut down the LBCC bats with scoreless innings from the second through the fourth, facing just nine batters (one single) in that stretch.

In the sixth, Pasadena regained the lead at 2-1 as Lucero singled, stole second again and scored on Negrete’s shot up the middle to shortstop that a diving Jaela Diaz turned into a highlight-reel double play.

Two of the conference’s best hitters touched Vazquez in the bottom of the sixth, a RBI single by SCC 2024 MVP Anaya Togia and a run-scoring double by pitcher Hailey Harris.

Vazquez finished with a complete-game, 6-hitter, walking none (two hit-by-pitches). Alcaraz was 1-for-2 and increased her team-leading stolen base total to 14.

On Monday, April 14 in a non-conference game at Allan Hancock, the Lancers dropped a 12-6 decision to the Bulldogs despite Negrete batting 2-for-4 with three RBI. Garcia was 1-for-1, drawing three walks and scoring three runs while Natalie Huelster added a 2-run double in the fifth inning. Alcaraz stole three bases and scored a pair of runs with two walks.