Rain fails to keep Comets from three weekend wins

SAN MARCOS (3/23/2024) – With a juggling act which proved to be effective, the Palomar College softball team was able to stay a step ahead of three opponents over the weekend.

In addition to defeating San Diego Mesa and Bakersfield on the field, the Comets got the upper hand on a familiar nemesis: rain. By moving Game 1 of a Saturday doubleheader to Friday afternoon, Palomar was able to get in three games at Bradley Park, including a Saturday morning win over Bakersfield which finished barely an hour before the rain began to fall.

"We knew it was going to be a tough week, and it started with Southwestern on Wednesday," coach Lacey Craft said, referring to the Comets' 11-0 road win over the Jaguars. "That was an important conference game.

"Our biggest fear about the weekend was not getting the games in. We had an important nonconference opponent coming in for two games, and they travelled far to get here."

After making late adjustments to the schedule to accommodate the three games at Bradley Park, the state's second-ranked team was able to win two games on Friday, including a 22-0 five-inning romp over San Diego Mesa in a Pacific Coast Athletic Conference matchup of the conference's top two teams. Following that regularly-scheduled contest, the Comets took on Bakersfield in the first of two nonconference games against the No. 16-ranked Renegades.

The result was an 8-0 victory for Palomar in a game shortened to five innings when the hosts scored four runs in the bottom of the fifth inning to bring on the mercy-run rule. When the two teams met again on Saturday, the result was another 8-0 win for the Comets, who again plated enough runs in the fifth inning, three this time, to run-rule the Renegades.

While improving to 22-1 on the season, Palomar has won 14 straight games, including the last eight which have been decided in five innings by the mercy rule.

"Our girls have always had to be flexible," Craft said. "They've had to be ready to switch on a dime, and it's been like that all year with all the rain. The girls want to play, and they're always ready to play."

In Friday's game against Mesa, the Comets came ready to play and exploded for their biggest offensive output in nearly five years to remain unbeaten in the PCAC at 7-0 and deal the Olympians (14-9, 4-2) their second conference loss of the season.

Palomar took a quick first-inning lead when the first three batters produced a 2-0 advantage. A leadoff single by sophomore right fielder Faith Steffany was followed by a triple by freshman second baseman Josephine Heuberger and a double by freshman first baseman Breanna Lutz.

A Mesa error and a solo home run by freshman designated player Isabella De Filippis led to a 4-0 Palomar lead after one inning, and the Comets erupted for 15 runs in the second inning, sending 19 batters to the plate for their biggest offensive inning of the season.

Five Palomar batters provided two hits apiece during the big inning, including Steffany, Heuberger, Lutz, sophomore third baseman Itzell De Los Rios and sophomore center fielder Maddie Scott. When the dust had cleared, the Comets had 15 hits in the inning and took advantage of three more Olympian errors to assume a 19-0 lead after two innings of play.

A three-run home run to left-center field in the third inning by freshman third baseman Julianna Rocha, her first of the season, capped the Palomar scoring. The 22 runs were the most scored by the Comets since a 21-1 romp over College of the Desert on April 17, 2019.

Steffany and Scott each had four hits to lead Palomar's 26-hit assault. Heuberger, Lutz and De Filippis had three hits apiece, with all of De Filippis' hits going for extra bases, including her second home run of the season and a pair of doubles.

Freshman pitchers Nevaeh Haywood and Maddie Bedolla combined on a two-hit shutout for the winners.  Haywood started in the circle and pitched three innings for her sixth victory in as many decisions. She allowed one hit and one walk with four strikeouts. Bedolla spun two innings of relief, allowing one walk and one hit with one strikeout.

Palomar followed its win over Mesa with another shutout victory against Bakersfield in Friday's second game. Sophomore Guilianna "Gigi" Clavel pitched five scoreless innings, allowing just two baserunners. The only hit off Clavel was a two-out single in the fifth inning as she won her 15^th game while walking one batter and striking out seven.

Consecutive one-out singles by Heuberger, Lutz and De Los Rios led to a first-inning run for the Comets. Heuberger hit a leadoff single in the third and scored on a two-out single by De Filippis, and a leadoff double in the fourth by sophomore shortstop Tess Altevers-Harris and an infield single by Scott led to two more runs.

The Comets iced the victory and brought on the mercy-run rule by scoring four runs in the fifth, which De Los Rios led off with her team-leading third home run of the season. A double by Clavel and RBI singles by Altevers-Harris, Scott and Steffany provided the final blows.

Palomar finished with 13 hits, giving the Comets a combined 39 hits in Friday's two games. Heuberger, De Los Rios, Clavel, Altevers-Harris and Scott all had two hits apiece. Scott was 6-for-7 at the plate in Friday's two games combined, scoring twice in each contest.

Clavel pitched another five-inning shutout in Saturday's game to improve her record to 16-1 on the season. In addition to blanking Bakersfield on two hits with nine strikeouts for Palomar's 13^th shutout of the season, Clavel had three hits at the plate, including an RBI single to help ignite the three-run fifth-inning rally.

De Los Rios had two hits, including a two-out run-scoring triple in the first inning after Lutz had singled. Base hits by Clavel and Scott preceded a Bakersfield error with two outs which led to a pair of second-inning runs, and Steffany connected on a two-out, two-run double to right in the fourth inning for a 5-0 Palomar lead.

Bakersfield was unable to record an out in the bottom of the fifth, which began with a leadoff single to center by De Los Rios, followed by a walk to De Filippis, a run-scoring single to right by Clavel, and the game-ending single up the middle by Altevers-Harris which plated the two additional runs needed for the mercy rule.

The Comets visit 10^th-ranked Orange Coast on Tuesday for a nonconference doubleheader in Costa Mesa before returning home Wednesday for a rain make-up game against No. 11 El Camino at Bradley Park starting at 3 p.m.

"We're going to be getting into a little bit of a grind as we get into the home stretch," said Craft. "What's great is that everybody is contributing, whether they're starting or coming off the bench."