SANTA ANA - The Dons missed an opportunity to shake up the top of the Orange Empire Conference standings after letting a 2-0 lead slip away in their 3-2 loss to Santiago Canyon College.

The standings stayed the same with the Hawks (25-3, 12-2) and Riverside City both winning while the Dons (22-7, 9-5) and Cypress both lost. Cypress, however, now has company after Saddleback won its game to move into a tie for fourth place, just one game behind SAC.

The Dons went up 2-0 in the second inning when Annie Dowling led the frame off with a single before Cynthia Rice reached on an infield single. Sabrina Perez then hit into a fielder's choice, but an error on the play allowed Dowling to score from second. Rice scored the second run when Katlyn Harvey grounded out to second.

But Santiago Canyon would come back for one run in the fourth on a RBI-double by Madison Smith that scored Tori Duquette, who led the inning off with a single. Then, in the sixth inning, Sydney Abounassar nearly homered to left field but the ball hit the top of the fence for a double. One batter later, Desiree Rascon hit a two-run home run to centerfield to put the Hawks up for good.

Kirstin Gutierrez (8-3) took the loss as she gave up the home run in the sixth inning. Gutierrez allowed two runs on four hits in 1.1 innings of work. Carly Wade (15-1) improved to 2-0 against the Dons as she held SAC to two runs, one earned, on six hits over seven innings.