SANTA ANA, Calif. – Santa Ana softball earned two more wins on Saturday, pushing past LA Mission (2-16) and Moorpark (8-8) in non-conference action.
In game one against LA Mission, the Dons were able to hold on to an early lead to pull out a 4-2 victory.
Brandi Kirkpatrick started things off with a two RBI double to right center field that scored Andrea Uriarte and Airilin Ramirez. Madelyn Holzberg added on with a double to left center to bring home Kirkpatrick, giving Santa Ana a 3-0 lead after one inning.
The LAMC Eagles chipped away with runs in the third and sixth inning, but it wasn't enough for a comeback, as the Dons posted one more run to walk away with a 4-2 win.
Kirkpatrick went 2-for-2 with three runs batted in while picking up the win in the circle after throwing five and a third innings with three strikeouts and just two runs. Emily Rosas came in for the last inning and two thirds as she recorded her first save of the year.
Santa Ana went up against a tough Moorpark team in its second game of the day. The game was scoreless until the fourth inning when the Dons broke out for one run on a single to left field from Jay Knoefler. SAC added one more run in the fifth as Kirkpatrick executed a squeeze play to bring in Rosas, giving the Dons a 2-0 lead.
But that lead wouldn't last long, as the Moorpark Raiders battled back with two runs in the sixth inning to tie the game in crunch time.
Following a scoreless bottom of the sixth and top of the seventh, Santa Ana broke the tie with a walk-off double by Airilin Ramirez to end the day on a high note and extend its winning streak to five games.
Airilin finished the game with two hits and an RBI while Uriarte and Holzberg also collected a couple hits each.
Rosas went all seven innings for her seventh win of the year as she struck out two and allowed two runs.
UP NEXT: The Dons will return to Orange Empire Conference action on Wednesday at 3:00 p.m. as they host Santiago Canyon (13-7, 5-1). SCC is coming off a 3-2 win against Cypress last week and defeated Santa Ana in extra innings by a score of 1-0 back in February.
