Owls Combine Offensive Firepower, Pitching to Sweep Fullerton and Ventura

Citrus College Softball bounced back and picked up two non-conference wins on Saturday at a three-way hosted by Ventura College on March 28. The Owls defeated No. 6 Fullerton College 10-7 in eight innings in their first game of the day before defeating Ventura College 10-0 in five innings in the second game of the back-to-back. With the two wins, Citrus improves to 22-9 overall and remains 5-1 in conference play.

In game one against Fullerton College, Citrus totaled 16 hits and used a late-inning rally to defeat the Hornets, 10-7, in a back-and-forth contest.

The Owls struck first with three runs in the opening inning. Jaelynn Eaves delivered an RBI triple to center field to score Grace Twente, then came home on a passed ball. Later in the frame, Samantha Juarez was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded to bring in another run and give Citrus a 3-0 advantage.

Fullerton answered with two unearned runs in the bottom half, but Citrus extended its lead in the second inning. Eaves came through again with a two-run triple—her third triple of the season—and Mia Godoy added a sacrifice fly to make it 6-2. The Hornets added a run in the bottom of the second, cutting the lead to 6-3.

Brooke Whiteman added to the Owls' lead with a double that scored Juarez in the fifth inning, pushing the advantage to 7-3. However, Fullerton battled back with a four-run fifth to even the score at 7-7.

After both teams went quiet for a stretch and the game moved into extra innings, Citrus broke through in the eighth. Twente delivered the go-ahead RBI single to score Alivia Martinez. The Owls capitalized on a Fullerton error later in the inning, and Aalijah Aranda added an RBI single to extend the lead to 10-7.

Twente led the Citrus offense with a perfect 5-for-5 performance, scoring three runs and driving in one. Eaves finished 3-for-5 with two triples—her second and third of the year—three RBIs and two runs scored, while Martinez added two hits, including a double and a triple (her fifth of the season), and scored twice. Whiteman also contributed with an RBI double as part of the Owls' balanced attack that saw eight players record a hit.

In the circle, Brissa Ayon (W, 17-6) earned the complete-game victory to improve to 17-6 on the season. The freshman right-hander allowed seven runs, just two earned, on 12 hits while walking none and striking out three over eight innings. Ayon faced 38 batters and limited the damage despite multiple Fullerton rallies, keeping Citrus within striking distance until the offense delivered the decisive eighth inning.

In game two against host Ventura College, the Owls were dominant in a 10-0 mercy-rule victory, backed by another strong offensive performance and a sharp outing in the circle, marking Citrus' second win over the Pirates this season (the Owls defeated Ventura 10-6 on Feb. 5).

Citrus started the scoring in the third inning, plating four runs to take control early. Martinez sparked the rally with an inside-the-park home run to right field—her eighth of the season—followed by an RBI single from Godoy. Izzy Poveda capped the inning with a two-run single to extend the lead to 4-0.

The Owls added three more runs in the fourth, highlighted by RBI hits from Martinez and Eaves, before putting the game away in the fifth with three additional runs. Twente delivered an RBI single, and Eaves drove in two more runs with another base hit to push the lead to 10-0 and enforce the run rule.

Martinez finished 2-for-3 with a home run, two RBIs, three runs scored and two stolen bases, while Eaves drove in four runs on a pair of hits. Eaves now leads the Owls—and the state—with 60 RBIs on the season. Twente added an RBI single and four stolen bases, her season high, while Godoy and Poveda each contributed key run-producing hits as Citrus continued to showcase its depth throughout the lineup.

In the circle, Camila Abundis (W, 2-1) earned the win after tossing a complete-game shutout, the first of the season for the Owls. The sophomore left-hander allowed just five hits and one walk across five innings.

Citrus will return to conference play when it visits College of the Canyons on Tuesday, March 31, at 2 p.m.