Posted: Mar 25, 2018
The Bakersfield College softball team took a break from Western State-North Conference play and squared off against a pair of non-league opponents on Saturday.
The results were a mixed bag. The Renegades defeated Merced College 3-1 before losing 1-0 to Riverside City College. Both games were played at the Dean and Adah Gay Sports Complex.
"We're moving in the right direction and we're peaking at the right time, which is all I could ask for" BC coach Casey Goodman said. "Riverside is a good team. They're in a really tough conference and they've beat some good teams…We'll take what we learned from today and move forward with it."
Kylee Fahy was the pitcher of record for BC in both games. The freshman right-hander came in relief of McKenna Valencia to earn the victory against Merced.
Fahy started in the circle and pitched all seven innings against Riverside. Her bat was just as key as her pitching arm in the win over the Blue Devils. She had an RBI infield single in the fourth that gave BC a 1-0 lead. After Merced tied things in the fifth, Fahy plated the go-ahead run in the sixth with a sacrifice fly to left field. Alexis Solis went 2 for 2 with two doubles, a walk, and two runs scored against the Blue Devils. Valencia, was 3 for 3 at the plate and pitched 4 2/3 innings against Merced, allowing one run on two hits and four walks.
The Renegades offensive attacked mustered only four hits, all singles against Riverside. The difference in the game against the Tigers was a two-out, first-inning, solo home run by Aeriel Carlson. Fahy gave up only four other hits and a walk in taking the hard-luck loss.
"It's a tough way for (Fahy) to lose but you can't really blame anybody but the offense," Goodman said. "We didn't put any runs up and back her up…She pitched well enough to win. If we can't score one run, then we're in trouble."
BC only had two runners reach second base or beyond. Both times the Renegades failed to get a hit and bring the runner in scoring position home. Two of BC's best scoring opportunities, came in the third and sixth inning, when the Renegades got their leadoff batter on base. However, things short-circuited each time as the Renegades hit into rally-killing double plays.
"I think we hit fine," Goodman said. "I think the thing we struggled with today with was getting the timely hit. Whoever's up (when we have runners on base) has embrace the situation and come up big. That's what beat us in this game (against Riverside). We just didn't get that clutch hit"
The softball team will host Moorpark College today at 2:30 PM.