Vikings split doubleheader against Cosumnes River with another walk-off win

The Inquirer: Student Voice of Diablo Valley College Website

Aaron Tolentino | Sports editor | March 28, 2018

In a doubleheader against Cosumnes River College, the Diablo Valley College softball team was blown out 9-0 in the first game and later won their second game on a bloop walk-off single by a final score of 6-5 on Wednesday afternoon in Pleasant Hill.

The first game ended in the fifth inning due to the mercy rule where if a team has an eight-run lead in the fifth inning, the game ends. Cosumnes River blew the game open with a seven-run fifth inning.

Vikings starting pitcher Brittany Martinez was charged for nine runs in the loss, but only four of them were earned. DVC committed four costly errors.

After defeat in game one, the team held a meeting on the left field grass with head coach Dennis Luquet challenging the ladies to step it up.

According to right fielder Kathryn Cassin, the coaches said that the team was constantly beat on pitches on the outside corner. The team went to the batting cages and worked on just that for their next game 30 minutes later.

That batting cage session worked for the Vikings offense in their second game against Cosumnes River.

DVC jumped to a 5-1 lead after five innings and even pitcher Sita Manoa hit a solo home run to help her own cause as she returned as the starting pitcher.

Manoa took control of the game by only giving up one run up after five innings.

However, the last two innings were a different story. Manoa gave up four runs during that span for Cosumnes River to tie the game up in the seventh. Luquet then decided to pull the trigger and replace Manoa.

"Sita threw 150 pitches yesterday," Luquet said. "Then, I just felt she started getting the ball up (in the strike zone) the last inning and she's tired, they were hitting her."

Martinez came into the game after getting rocked a couple hours earlier, but she handled herself well. It was huge for the Vikings for Martinez to come in and stop the roaring momentum Cosumnes River had built that inning.

"It didn't really phase me," said Manoa on giving up the seventh inning runs. "I knew we were gonna get the last two outs and when you have a team like that, you have a lot of trust in them, especially when Brittany stepped up, I knew it was over."

The Vikings were able to escape the seventh inning tied which allowed the offense to squeeze out a run in the bottom of the inning and that's all they needed for victory.

Cassin, for the second day in a row, scored the walk-off run for DVC. She led off with a single and eventually came around to score on shortstop Nikki Mason's bloop single to seal the win for the Vikings.

"We don't give up," said Cassin. "When we take a loss like that and we know we can beat (them), we're always back the next game."

The Vikings will have another doubleheader this Saturday against Sacramento City College with scheduled first pitches at noon and 2 p.m. in Pleasant Hill.

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