MSJC softball team sweeps doubleheader from Desert

By Paige Mendez, Correspondent

The Mt. San Jacinto College softball team won both of its games in a Friday doubleheader against College of the Desert at home.

The first game was scoreless until the sixth inning when the visiting Roadrunners scored two runs on two outs, giving the Eagles just two innings to come back. But they had an answer with three singles, two doubles and a triple that gave them the 6-2 lead. Pitcher Trinity Robinson then recorded three straight outs in the top of the seventh to seal the deal in MSJC’s first win of the day.

“I feel like it was a good performance, but I definitely could have done better and it’s something I can work on,” Robinson said of her performance in the circle. She finished with three strikeouts, one walk and seven hits.

Madison Morris, Natalie Juarez, Alyssa Jimenez and Bailey Heuer (who hit the triple) each recorded two of the team’s total 12 hits in that game.

The Eagles then took that momentum into the second game with two runs scored in each of the first three innings. Meanwhile, starting pitcher Stephanie Wagner and the MSJC defense held Desert to no runs on one hit for those first three.

Juarez and Marissa Sanchez led the team in hits and RBI’s with three and two of each, respectively.

Juarez said that her offensive performance was just her fulfilling her job on the team.

“When I go up to bat I really want to just advance myself 60 feet just so we have a chance to score and win,” she said. “I feel like that’s my role in the threecspot in the lineup -- to advance everybody and get the team hyped.”

According to head coach Jessica Beaver-Brambilla, Juarez was not the only one fulfilling her role in the doubleheader.

“I think really everyone did their job today,” she said. “We talk about how everybody from the dugout to the field, the starters to the non-starters all have to do their jobs and when the starters come out and the non-starters succeed, too, that’s a big deal.”

Six players accounted for the team’s total 11 hits in the second game, compared to Desert’s three hits by just one player.

The game ended in six innings after Sanchez hit a double to score the team’s eighth run, giving them the win on the mercy rule.

Beaver-Brambilla said her team’s 4-0 conference record gives them the momentum to keep this going.

“It’s nice to be into conference and be undefeated,” she said. “It gives us a motivation to keep going and set that goal at practice to keep pursuing the wins.”

Juarez hopes this undefeated record will help people see something new in this Eagles softball squad.

“We’re not the same MSJC as years past,” Juarez said. “We’re a whole new team.”

The Eagles will hit the road next week for a Tuesday doubleheader at San Diego Mesa starting at 11 a.m.