Dons Continue Hot Play with 7-1 Win over Fullerton College

Andrea Mendoza singled in Ashley Dehuff in the second inning for the go-ahead run in the Dons 7-1 victory over Fullerton College.
Andrea Mendoza singled in Ashley Dehuff in the second inning for the go-ahead run in the Dons 7-1 victory over Fullerton College.

SANTA ANA - The Dons continued their recent streak of strong play today with a 7-1 win over Fullerton College in an Orange Empire Conference game. The victory, their fourth in a row, improves the Dons to 8-8 on the season and, more importantly, 4-1 in OEC play.

The first run for SAC came across without a hit as Emily Whitecavage led off the first inning with a walk, took second on Kori Cochran's sacrifice bunt and reached third safely on a fielder's choice. She finally came in to score when she and Katlyn Harvey successfully executed a double steal.

Fullerton (9-5, 4-3) came back to tie the game at 1-1 in the top of the second with an unearned run. Alexis Ocampo led the frame off with a walk before moving station to station to third base. She came in to score on an error on a would-be inning-ending double play.

But the tie didn't last long as the Dons came back with a pair of runs in the bottom of the third. The eventual game-winning hit belonged to Andrea Mendoza who singled in Ashley DeHuff before scoring when Harvey was hit by a pitch with the bases loaded.

The Dons added a run in the third when Paolena Comouche, who was running for Annie Dowling, scored on Tori Ferguson's sacrifice fly. Two more unearned runs came across in the fourth inning with Vanessa Moreno and Christina McCullogh each scoring on errors.

The final run of the game came in the same way the first run was scored. After Whitecavage reached on an infield single, she stole second before moving to third on a fielder's choice. With Harvey at bat, Whitecavage and Cochran executed a double steal with Whitecavage scoring on the play.

Victoria Franks (8-6) turned in another impressive performance as she held Fullerton to just one, unearned run on six hits over seven innings with four strikeouts. Nicole Pratt (2-2) took the loss as she allowed three runs, two earned, on two hits in 1.1 innings of work.