SANTA ANA, Calif. – The Santa Ana softball team overcame some uncharacteristic mistakes to defeat the College of the Desert Roadrunners 6-4 in a non-conference game on Monday afternoon.
Santa Ana worked its way into a 5-1 lead going into the 6th inning but a couple hits and a costly error gave Desert a jolt of energy, allowing them to score two to make it a 5-3 game.
The Dons answered back in the bottom half of the inning with another run to give themselves just enough cushion as the Roadrunners made their final push in the seventh, scoring a run and threatening to tie things up with the based loaded and two out.
But Nicole Yniguez shut the door with her ninth strikeout of the day to get out of the jam, leading the Dons to their fourth consecutive win. Yniguez went 6.1 innings with no earned runs to get her sixth win of the season.
Jeana Gonzales, Drea DeFord and Raeleen Pelayo powered the Don offense with five hits, four walks, three runs and three RBI's combined. The Dons also got some help off the bench as Maddison Reddick came in to contribute with a two RBI single fourth inning.
With the win, Santa Ana moves to 9-2, 1-0 while the Roadrunners drop to 6-3, 1-0.
UP NEXT
The Dons will get back to Orange Empire Conference play when they host the Saddleback Gauchos (3-7, 0-2) on Wednesday at 3:00 p.m.