The San Diego Mesa College Olympians were 9-5 heading into their conference debut against the 4-3 Southwestern College Jaguars .. A dramatic game unfortunately finished in Southwestern coming from behind to win 9-5 on the road.
The Olympians, coming off a five game win streak, rallied over Southwestern in the first inning, scoring four runs. At this point, Mesa’s dugout was absolutely roaring. The coaches, athletic trainers, player’s families and friends, were all cheering for the ladies to keep it going. Southwestern was unable to respond until the 4th inning, where they scored one run.
Southwestern stepped up their game and brought in four runs in the 6th inning, and played impeccable defense, which prevented Mesa from scoring. You could see the game slipping away from the Olympians, as Southwestern scored four more runs in the 7th, while Mesa was only able to bring one runner home. Mesa’s offense is looking solid at the moment but the defense needs work. Southwestern’s four points in the final innings did some serious damage to the Olympians confidence.
San Diego Mesa’s star player Savanah Wallace was at base four times with two hits and two runs. Among the other Mesa standouts were, Linda Brown who provided a run with two hits along with Cassie Gonzales, and her sister Chelsea Gonzales had one hit and run. Savanah did not hesitate to point out her team’s mistakes by commenting, “We started the game strong and got confident. These conference games are crucial because we have high expectations and goals.” The Gonzales sisters both agreed that, “It is a learning process and we will bounce back to see the results we absolutely need.”
Coach Jaclyn Guidi seemed disappointed with her team’s effort and mentioned, “It was horrible, we let the game slip away from our hands, and we need to execute on defense and offense.” The lady’s next conference game is Feb. 22 against San Bernardino Valley College, and they hope to turn things around and bounce back from this unfortunate loss.
