Dons Advance in State Softball

A double by Inez Vasquez and a single by Marie Caballero led to two runs in the sixth inning Friday and Santa Ana defeated Palomar, 2-1, in the second round of the state community college softball championships in Clovis.

Santa Ana (39-12-1), which scored a 3-2 victory over the top team from Northern California, West Valley, in the first round, advances to the winners’ bracket final at 7 tonight at Fresno State.

Santa Ana needed extra innings to defeat West Valley, getting the winning run in the bottom of the ninth when Vasquez scored from first base after Caballero’s one-out single was bobbled in the outfield.

In another first-round game:

Sacramento 1, Fullerton 0 (8)--Elizabeth Sauerwine singled in Melissa Wilson with two outs in the eighth inning for Sacramento (39-8-1). Pitcher Colleen Burdick struck out 10 for Fullerton (35-10-1). Fullerton will face Shasta in an elimination game at 10 a.m. today at the Buchanan Complex.

In the Southern California baseball regional:

Cypress 12, Palomar 5--Kevin Sapp, Daylon Monette, Sal De Anda and Ryan Godfrey each had three of the Chargers’ 19 hits. Ray Aguilar (8-1) struck out seven and in seven innings for Cypress (29-15), which will play at L.A. Harbor at 11 a.m. today.

Santa Ana 11, El Camino 0--David Fischer and Anthony Gonzales each had three hits and Ivan Ramirez pitched a four-hitter for top-seeded Santa Ana (34-9), which will play Saddleback at 11 a.m. today at Santa Ana.

Saddleback 14, Chaffey 3--Jon Stephens, Chris Mash, Scott Cheo and Josue Lopez hit consecutive home runs in a seven-run seventh inning for the Gauchos (32-11). Joe Schaefer hit a two-run home run in the seventh for Saddleback.

Cuesta 6, Orange Coast 1--Jordan Pickens had three RBIs for host Cuesta (32-10). Orange Coast (24-17) faces Citrus in an elimination game at 10 a.m. today at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.

In the men’s tennis state championships at Folsom:

DiMartino wins--Saddleback’s David DiMartino advanced to the singles semifinals and teammates Arif Hassan and Jon Lippert advanced to the doubles semifinals.

In the women’s badminton state championships at Irvine Valley:

Tran wins--Top-seeded Cynthia Tran of Orange Coast reached today’s semifinals in both singles and doubles.