Lady Cougars win three of four against Knights
The Lassen College softball team put the Shasta Knights to shame with a pair of doubleheaders played on April 22 and April 25.
The Lady Cougars scored a total of 26 runs over the span of four games; the Knights countering with a mere 12.
Lassen hosted the first doubleheader and introduced the Knights to the Cougar habitat.
In the first game, Lassen annihilated Shasta with 11 runs scored over the span of two innings. Shasta failed to produce a single run, so the game was called after five innings.
Of the runs scored, Aleah Dela Cruz, Garyn Harlan and Julisa Rodriguez each scored two, and Alyssa Jones, Mia Torres, Taylor Knecht, Shandell Gemmel and Brittany Chamberlain each scored one run.
Kennedy Ford was credited with four RBIs. Rodriguez and Chamberlain were each credited with two RBIs, and Gemmel brought in one.
Of the ladies at bat for the Cougars, Knecht gave the strongest swing and landed a triple. Ford and Rodriguez each hit a double during the game and listened to the crowd’s wild cheers in their favor.
Dela Cruz stole the show when the Cougars were on the defense by pitching a great five innings. Of the 17 batters faced, Dela Cruz only gave away one hit and one walk. She struck out four batters in total.
Game two turned the tables, however. Shasta’s humiliating loss seemed to spark a fit of passion in the Knights for game two as Shasta secured its only win of the four-game series with a score of 6-1.
Shasta got their first run of the day in the first inning. The success gave the Knights an ego boost that refused to let go for the remainder of the game.
While the Cougars scored a run in the second inning, the Knights continued to score runs in the fifth, sixth and seventh inning to bring their total to six points.
Lassen’s run was made by Dela Cruz.
Sabrina Johnson pitched the first six innings for Lassen with 30 batters faced in total. Johnson gave away six hits, five runs, four walks and three errors. She struck out one Knight and certainly left the rest on their toes.
Dela Cruz finished off the game on the mound to pitch for one inning. She gave away one hit, one run and one error. She struck out one of five batters faced.
After the teams left with one win each, Lassen and Shasta scheduled a rematch.
The Lady Cougars traveled to Shasta’s home base in demand of said rematch on April 25.
Game one of the Tuesday doubleheader was a Cougar win of 6-2.
Dela Cruz pitch a complete game with on earned run given up on seven hits. She struck out six and definitely gave the Lady Cougars a huge defensive boost.
Both teams managed to bump up their efforts by two runs for the second game; the final score was 8-4 favoring Lassen.
The game’s winning pitcher, Johnson, threw a complete game with eight hits and one run given up.
For the offensive side, Knecht and Dela Cruz each had three hits while Chamberlain went 2 for 3. Ford walked twice and stole a base to keep the Cougar momentum strong.
