Chenault, Salazar Power No.10 Hancock Softball to 5-1 Win at No.9 Citrus College
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | R | H | E |
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1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 5 | 11 | 1 |
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0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 7 | 0 |
(Glendora, CA) Katie Chenault homered and struck out eight Owls, while Judith Salazar collected two hits and two RBI to lift the Allan Hancock College softball team to a 5-1 win at Citrus College on Saturday. The Bulldogs, who are ranked No. 10 in the Southern California Regional, won their seventh straight andd improved to 9-2-1, while the ninth ranked Owls dropped to 7-3. Citrus entered on a seven-game winning streak and was coming off a walk-off win over Mt. SAC, the third ranked team in California and top ranked team in the SoCal Region.
Chenault held one of the top offenses in the state to seven hits and one unearned run. The Righetti High School graduate struck out eight and walked two batters.
Hancock collected 11 hits compared to seven by Citrus. Michaela Valencia, Jessica Rothanzl, Salazar, Missy Regalado and Ashley Ruiz had two hits apiece for the Bulldogs.
The Bulldogs wasted no time taking the lead when Regalado singled down the left field line to drive in Rothanzl to make it 1-0 Hancock in the top of the first. Hancock extended its lead in the second when Valencia doubled to left to drive in Ruiz to make it 2-0 Bulldogs.
Salazar hit a sacrifice fly to center field in the third to allow pinch runner Elysha Cortez to tag up and score from third to make it 3-0 Hancock. Chenault made it a 4-0 game when she launched her first home run of the season over the left field wall in the fifth.
Citrus scored its only run of the game in the sixth on an error to make it a 4-1 Hancock lead. However, the Bulldogs regained a four-run cushion in the top of the seventh when Salazar doubled down the left field line to drive in Rothanzl to cap the scoring in the game. Rothanzl led off the inning with a ground-rule double.
Chenault allowed a harmless double to right field in the home half of the seventh, but secured the win by coaxing three fly balls.
Hancock closes a three-game road trip on Tuesday, March 3, with a 5 p.m. game at Bakersfield. The Bulldogs open defense of their Western State Conference title on Thursdays, March 5, at home against Ventura. First pitch is at 2:30 p.m.