Mt. SAC Homers Their Way into the Finals with Win over Cypress
May 19 , 2007

Chino Hills, Calif. – Mt. SAC got one win closer to avenging their 2006 loss to Cypress for last year’s championship. The Mounties bats were hot producing three homeruns against the Charger bullpen for the 8-2 win. Mt. SAC’s win propels them to the finals tomorrow while Cypress must now win three straight to defend their championship. All-American Mandy Pongs led the Mounties from the mound and the box with a home run and a double for two RBI while striking out six Charger Batters for the win.

After both teams went down in order in the first, Mt. SAC got it going in the second. Pongs started it with a double to right center. An out later, fellow All-American Nichole Whaley singled to left breaking the scoreless tie as Pongs scored. Renee Bollier replaced Whaley to run and got to third off a single to right center from freshman center fielder Lucia Rodriguez. Bollier raced home on a mis-thrown ball from the Charger catcher for the second run. Freshman left fielder Randie Baldwin made it three with an RBI single up the middle. The home runs began in the fourth with back to back home runs off of sophomore second baseman Jessica Meza and then Whaley to take the 5-0 lead.

Cypress broke the shut out in the fifth. Freshman first baseman Nicole Palmer singled to second, advanced to second then third on an error. Freshman right fielder Caitlin McGrath converted with a slapped single up the middle allowing Palmer to score. Mt. SAC was not done extending their lead. Whaley hit another single leading off the sixth. Two hits later and Whaley was on third for a sacrifice fly from sophomore first baseman Danielle Linke. The seventh was topped off with Pong’s two run homerun to give Mt. SAC their seventh and eighth run.

The Chargers had one more shot for a miracle come back in the bottom of the eighth. Sophomore left fielder Sabrina Hernandez singled to short and reached second with a single from sophomore center fielder Jade Espinoza. Both moved into scoring position off a wild pitch. Palmer grounded out for an RBI as Hernandez raced home. Pongs shut the door from there striking out the last out and ending the game with the win. Pongs improves to 23-2 on the season while Cypress freshman Sydney Rae Woolley suffered her first loss of the season falling to 17-1. Sophomore Gabrielle Woody finished off the game for Cypress pitching the last four innings striking out three batters and yielding five hits and three earned runs.

Cypress falls to 52-5 and fall to the elimination bracket to face Cerritos for the third time this season. Cypress defeated Cerritos in the second round with a 7-0 shutout while Cerritos defeated Cypress earlier in the regular season. The two will face off at 10:00 am tomorrow for the right to face Mt. SAC. Mt. SAC improves to 52-4 on the season and will await the winner of the Cerritos and Cypress game just one win away from winning the championship.