Cats in a walk-off

The Saddleback softball team won its 10^th game of the season with a 5-4 win over Los Angeles Mission College on Thursday at the Saddleback Softball complex.  McKenzie Lombard lifted the Cats to victory with a walk-off inside-the-park home run in the bottom of the seventh inning.

There's an old adage that a good team can often win when they don't have their best stuff.  Saddleback proved that theory on Thursday when they committed five errors in the field but still managed to grit out a victory.

Los Angeles Mission took a 2-0 lead in the top half of the first inning when the Eagles had a pair of hits and a sacrifice fly in taking the early advantage.  The Bobcats fought back with two runs of their own, using doubles from McKenzie Lombard, Macy Smith and Tasneem Kerdiya to tie the game after one inning of play.

The game remained 2-2 until the fifth inning when Mission scored a pair of runs for a 4-2 advantage.  The Bobcats committed a pair of errors to start the inning, allowing Los Angeles Mission to capitalize and take the lead.

Saddleback again responded, scoring twice in the bottom half of the inning to even the game.  With two outs in the inning the Bobcats had three straight hits, capped off by a two-run double from Smith.

The game was tied at 4-4 heading into the bottom half of the seventh inning.  With one out in the inning, the Eagles then decided to make a pitching change.  The new pitcher was greeted by Lombard, who blasted a ball into the right field corner and circled the bases for a walk-off home run.

Lombard finished 3-for-3 with three runs-scored in the game.  Smith finished 3-for-3 with three RBI and picked up a win on the mound to improve to 6-1 on the season.

Saddleback is now 10-2 to start the season.  The Bobcats will try to continue their winning ways on Friday when they host Chaffey College.  Saddleback and Chaffey are scheduled to start at 2:00 PM inside the Saddleback Softball Complex.