Sac City Survives Defensive Battle Eliminating Sierra
May 19 , 2007

Chino Hills, Calif. – Sacramento City and Sierra spend their regular season as Big 7 conference rivals and drove south all the way to Chino Hills to face off again in an elimination game at the State Championships. Sac City has won all three match-ups against Sierra this season and added a fourth with a slim 1-0 victory to extend their season. In a game of defensive plays, the Panthers took advantage of Sierra’s only mistake to score their run in the fifth. Sophomore All-American Nicole Wells drove in what would be the winning run for Sac City.

Neither team could get any offense going until the second but both defenses shut each other down maintaining the scoreless tie. With a runner on, Sac City shortstop Cristin Anderson robbed Sierra of a hit with a diving catch for the third out ending the inning. Sac City took their turn at bat next as they put a runner on first with a hit batter but freshman catcher Carly Leary gunned the runner down at second attempting to steal ending the inning.

Sierra pitcher and all-Northern Team selection Leticia Cisneros got out of a jam in the fourth. North player of the year Cindy Oseguera led the Sac City at-bat off with a double down the left field line and then tagged up and reached third on a fly out to center. Cisneros struck out the second out and forced a pop up for the third to end the Sac City threat and maintain the scoreless tie.

Sac City took advantage of a rare opportunity in the fifth to score the games only run. Freshman right fielder Erica McIntyre reached on an error to lead it off. Freshman shortstop Cristin Anderson followed up with a double moving McIntyre to third with no outs retired. Wells broke the tie with an RBI single through the left side scoring McIntyre and moving Anderson to third. The next batter flew out to left while Anderson tagged up attempting to score. Sierra left fielder Ashley Edgar gunned the ball from the outfield in time for Leary to tag her out and prevent Sac City’s second run.

Sierra had their best chance to tie in the sixth. Sophomore right fielder Lilly Nevarez led the inning off slugging with a triple down the right field line. Sac City pitcher Amanda Monday got herself out of the jam with a ground out, strike out, and pop up leaving Nevarez stranded at third. At the top of the seventh, Sac City had three outs to go and Sierra had one more chance to extend their season. Freshman shortstop Candice Wermers led it off with a single over the third baseman’s head and hit second on a sacrifice bunt from Fleming. Monday forced two straight pop outs from there ending the game with the shutout win. Monday earned the win on the three-hitter game improving to 21-4 on the season. Cisneros finishes the season at 18-3 giving up five hits and no earned runs.

Sierra finishes the season 42-10. Sacramento City improves to 42-10 on the season and has no break moving on to face Antelope Valley at 2:00 pm. They have met once this season with AVC taking the win 5-1. The winner will move on to play at 5:00 pm today while the loser’s season will end.