Two home runs by Bear Cub Haley Wyatt helped lead the Santa Rosa Junior College softball team to victory on April 16, over Modesto College.
Starting pitcher Jessica Hernandez also played a huge role in Tuesday’s win, in which SRJC dominated both offensively and defensively throughout most of the game.
The Bear Cubs got off to a rocky start in the top of the first when Modesto player Sophia Coronado scored a run from third base after an RBI from Kayleen Zayehmoureh. But SRJC responded quickly as Olivia Gabriel hit a double, and then Wyatt hit a two-run home run to make it 2-1 in the bottom of the first. Nataya Brown scored after a single by Sofia Uricoechea, making it 3-1.
“In that first inning, we got down early, but we came back and put three on the board and I think that really helped our confidence,” said head coach Madison Green. This was an important key part of the game as they started the game down but recovered.
SRJC pitcher Hernandez caused problems for Modesto as she pitched a 1-2-3 inning in the top of the second, and a 1-2-3 inning on top of the fourth. The SRJC defense were in top form in the fifth inning when Modesto’s Kaydance Norried walked, then went to second base after Madison Chervony made a sacrifice bunt. The next two players, Jordan Adami and Delaney Huse-Davison, got out from flyouts. Hernandez’s pitches made it impossible for Modesto players to reach any base because the majority of the time they hit flyouts.
Everything was looking good for the Bear Cubs as Kayla Ling walked and then advanced to second base after Gabriel hit a single. Wyatt hit a home run, the second of the game to increase the lead 6-1. This allowed both Gabriel and Ling to score. That was Wyatt’s 12th home run of the season with a batting average of .476. Wyatt’s home runs played a huge role on the offensive side as it helped SRJC to score 3 runs in the bottom of the first and score 3 runs in the bottom of the fourth.
The next two innings were scoreless with struggling Modesto players hitting more fly balls off of Hernandez’s pitching. “She’s been doing that all year,” Green said. “My other two pitchers are hurt right now, so I told her that after the game. What she is doing right now isn’t easy mentally, knowing she has a lot on her shoulders. She just kept the ball in the strike zone and the defense did the rest.”
SRJC struggled in the top of the seventh inning as Modesto’s Chloee Hoffman reached second base. She advanced to third on a single from Norried. Hoffman scored a run on a sacrifice fly from Madison Chervoney. Huse-Davison made it to first after an error from second base in which Norried scored a run to make it 6-3. The game ended when Modesto’s Madysyn Davis hit a flyout.
Coach Green spoke about the seventh inning mistakes. “We’ve got our struggles with errors a little bit this year. I think we did pretty good holding them off up until that point. It happened at a point where it didn’t hurt us too bad,” she said.
SRJC will play its next and final home game on Saturday, April 20, against San Mateo College.
