Valentine's Day was a mixed blessing for the SBCC softball team as the Vaqueros topped Saddleback 7-4 behind a 2-run homer by Dakotah Wilcox, then lost to Canyons 6-2. The games were played at Canyons' Whitten Field in Santa Clarita.
The Vaqueros (4-2) scored four in the first inning against Saddleback (7-3), then gave up three in the bottom of the first. Brianna Gill got SBCC going with an RBI double and Amanda Caras followed with a run-scoring single. Alex Abbott drove in the last two with a double.
Caras, Abbott and Alice Cen all went 3-4 with Abbott driving in three runs. Santa Barbara tallied three more in the third on an RBI double by Danielle de Castro and the first homer of the year by catcher Dakotah Wilcox (pictured) – a two-run shot to left that made it 7-3.
Celeste Acosta pitched both games for SBCC and held Saddleback to seven hits with six strikeouts and three walks.
Canyons broke a 2-2 in the second game with two runs in the third and added two more in the sixth. Morgan Simmons pitched five innings of two-hit relief for the Cougars (1-3).
Christal Vierra went 2-4 with two RBIs for the Vaqueros, who were without their top hitter, Brianna Portese. The sophomore from Las Vegas, who hit .727 in her first four games, will miss up to two weeks with an injury.
After taking next week off, the Vaqueros will host L.A. Valley on Tuesday, Feb. 25 at 2:30 p.m.
