On Mar. 3 through 5, COS Giants Softball participated in three days of home games, with the last day consisting of a doubleheader.

The teams that they played were Merced, Siskiyous, Ohlone, and Bakersfield. In total, the team went 2-2 to bring their season record to 5-11, but their one win over Merced brought their league record to 1-0 for the year.

Merced

The game against Merced was easily the most contested game of the weekend, but it didn’t necessarily start this way.

Up until the 4th inning, COS retained a lead over Merced from a two-run first inning, three runs in the third, and two in the fourth.

In the first inning, Mandy Pimentel scorched a double to bat in two runners, while in the third, she doubled once again to bring the score to 3-2. Also in the third, first baseman Shalom Sanchez knocked a two-run homer out of the park to put COS up at 5-2.

In the fourth, Jacquelyn Esquer tripled to center to score Janette Ochoa, and Victoria Flores knocked in Esquer from a fielder’s choice sacrifice bunt to put the score at 7-2 going into the fifth.

This was the point that things got just a bit rocky for COS, as repeated defensive errors and traffic on the basepaths allowed for four earned runs throughout the game, and by the top of the seventh, the score was tied at seven.

Even after all the runners on though, Head Coach Cori Janelli still had faith in starting pitcher Nataly Espinoza.

“Well, that was our first conference game, and we were dealing with some sick players, and some injuries, but I just had a lot of confidence in her to get the job done,” Janelli stated.

In the bottom of the inning, Mandy Pimentel notched a single into right field for a walk-off RBI, and the game finished with a score of 8-7.

Siskiyou

The second game of the homestand against Siskiyous on Friday didn’t go nearly as well for the home squad. In a 12-3 loss, there wasn’t much to be celebrated other than just looking forward to the next game, but it is important to understand exactly what went wrong in that game.

From the second to the second to the fifth, Siskiyous scored nine runs compared to the Giants scoring only three, and the game finished at the score of 12-3. Once again, the game came down to allowing just too many runners on base.

Janelli said, “You know I don’t think collectively the pitchers did a very good job, we gave up eight free passes on six walks and two hit batters, and I think all of them scored. When you give free bases they come back to bite you, and that is exactly what happened here.”

Ohlon

The last day of games was Saturday, Mar. 6. The Giants played a doubleheader with the first against Ohlone and the second against Bakersfield College. Both of these games were played to five innings, and both were extremely one-sided in their own ways.

In the first game of the day against Ohlone, nearly every COS player was on fire. Some of the standouts though were shortstop Janette Ochoa going 3-2, scoring two runs and batting in another, along with one walk. Second baseman Jacquelyn Esquer went 3-3, batted in two runs, and scored two runs with a walk.

Right fielder Mandy Pimentel, catcher Victoria Flores, and infielder Nataly Espinoza all batted in two runs, with the first two scoring two runs on their own as well.

Overall, they finished the game at 14-1, and pitcher Maddison Shimmon threw five innings striking out six while only allowing three hits and one earned run.

Bakersfield

The next game of the day did not go nearly as well. After a seven-run second inning from Bakersfield, the Giants really had no answer, and eventually lost the game. The only scoring that COS saw during the first inning was on a double from Mandy Pimentel, but beyond that, that was it.

Shimmon pitched in this game as well. During this game, she gave up nine earned runs over 12 hits, showing a clear difference between the two games. In the end, it came down to a lot more than not executing pitching.

“I think the lack of communication is something we need to work on. There were a lot of miscoverages on the bags, a lot of plays we didn’t know what to do with the ball, and when that happens obviously you give up a seven-run inning,” Janelli said. “On top of the errors and the hits, it just catapults into chaos.”

And chaos it certainly was, after the game ended in a decisive 11-1 scoreline from widespread errors and was, overall, not a well-played game. However, there are some bright spots from the day coming from that first game against Ohlone.

Of those bright spots, Janelli stated “We did well, I think we came out hard, we took advantage of their mistakes, we did a good job with plate discipline and attacking strikes, which we did not do a very good job at doing in the second game.”

Overall, the homestand wasn’t too terrible for the Giants, and they finished the weekend going 2-2, and up 1-0 in league play. The first league softball game starts on Tuesday, March 8 at Fresno City College.

Their first home game will take place on Mar. 24 against Porterville College, so be sure to mark your calendars to go support COS Sports.