San Marcos Softball Sweeps Doubleheader Against Jurupa Hills
San Marcos’ Caitlyn Early drove in four runs and scored three of her own across both games of Saturday’s doubleheader. (Lily Chubb / Noozhawk Photo)
San Marcos softball won both games of their doubleheader against Jurupa Hills on Saturday at home.
The two games were the last non-league contests for the Royals before beginning Channel League play on Tuesday against Ventura.
San Marcos 6, Jurupa Hills 4
After a scoreless first and top of the second, Caitlyn Early got the Royals going in the bottom of the second inning.
Lucy Dessert was strong in the circle in both of San Marcos’ wins on Saturday. (Lily Chubb / Noozhawk Photo)
Early roped a bases-clearing double and Kamilah Morales followed her up with an RBI single to give San Marcos a 4-0 lead.
Jurupa Hills got three runs back in the fourth after a scoreless third, but a two-RBI single off the bat of San Marcos’ Lucy Dessert expanded the lead out to 6-3.
Jurupa Hills tacked on one more run in the fifth, but Dessert shut the door with a scoreless final two innings for the win.
Kate Guerra got the start in the first game of the day, allowing three runs on three hits in four innings of work.
“In the first game we struggled a bit offensively – we left 11 runners on base total,” San Marcos coach Emily Dietz said. “We were doing a good job at looking for a particular pitch and worked a good amount of walks, but weren’t able to adjust to bring runners in as much as we’d hoped.
“Both pitchers (Kate and Lucy) kept walks down and really worked to hit their spots which was a great improvement from previous games.”
San Marcos 11, Jurupa Hills 3
The Royals’ offense woke up in the second game to secure the doubleheader sweep.
All 11 of San Marcos’ runs came in the final three innings of play and a trio of big swings led the way.
Tiana Monaghan scores one of her three runs on Saturday. Monaghan also collected two hits and four RBIs on the day. (Lily Chubb / Noozhawk Photo)
Early, Tiana Monaghan and Solana Sandoval each blasted home runs to pull away from Jurupa Hills.
Monaghan’s was a three-run shot while Early and Sandoval each drove in a pair with their long balls.
Emma Foster also had a big two-RBI double to join the late-game offensive fireworks.
“Every person contributed today which was great to see, including a few JV players we brought up for today,” Dietz said. “Our bats came alive in the second game. We still left more runners on than we’d like but had some big at-bats from big hitters.”
Solana Sandoval was one of three Royals to slug a home run in the second game of Saturday’s doubleheader. (Lily Chubb / Noozhawk Photo)
Dessert, Caroline Wang and Guerra combined to limit Jurupa Hills to just three runs in the victory.