The GCC Softball Team began the week splitting two road Western State Conference - South Division contests: falling 5-4 to LA Mission (LAMC) in an eight-inning barn burner on Tuesday followed by a 4-3 come-from-behind win against LA Valley (LAVC) on Thursday. GCC ended the week with a doubleheader on Saturday against Victor Valley (VVC): losing the first game, 5-1, while rebounding to take the second, 14-7; returning home with a 3-2 record over their five-game road trip. 

 

Sophomore, Nazzelli Zohrabian, currently riding an eight-game hitting streak, was phenomenal in the month of March going 17 for 36 and hitting a team-high: .472 This past week alone, she made significant contributions on both sides of the ball with six hits and 13 defensive assists with zero errors. Catarina Anzalone led the Vaquero offense on the week with seven hits including three-hit performances against LAMC and VVC. In dramatic fashion, Anzalone hit her first collegiate home run on a two-two count with two outs in the 7th to tie the game and force extra innings against LAMC. In addition, her weekly stat line included two doubles, a triple, eight runs scored, three RBI, and two stolen bases.

 

Annaliese Ruiz pitched three complete games this week across twenty-one innings, striking out eight, and picking up a pair of wins. Against LAVC, trailing 3-0, Ruiz started the comeback with a 4th-inning single where she would eventually come around to score on a bases-loaded fielder's choice. An inning later, she would deliver a game-winning, two-run triple. Gabby Martinez-Nerio kicked off the fifth-inning rally with a double to right. She would later score on a double from Anzalone, setting the stage for Ruiz's late-game heroics.

 

In the win against VVC, all nine starters registered at least one hit. Anzalone had a team-high three hits with an RBI and four runs scored. Tati Pisa drove in what turned out to be the game-winning runs with a clutch triple in the 5th, her second of the season, going 1 for 4 with two runs scored and three RBI. During the 14-run offensive outburst, Isabelle Mendoza went 2 for 5 with two RBI, Emma Mendoza went 1 for 3 with two runs scored and an RBI, Valerie Juarez contributed a two-run double while Mallory Smith and Jeyslen Orial each had a hit and two runs scored.

 

Glendale (11-15) will next be in action at home for the next three games beginning on April 1st against Bakersfield at 2:30; April 3rd against Citrus at 2:30 and a non-conference game against Long Beach City on April 4th at 1pm. All three of this week's opponents are ranked in the top 15 of the latest 3C2A RPI polls.