Glendale Community College softball stalls against L.A. Mission
GLENDALE — From the uncontrollable to the bizarre, it’s certainly been a frustrating season for the Glendale Community College softball team.
Since the campaign began in late January, the Vaqueros have been forced to reschedule a number of games because of continuing rainstorms. They have also had many practices cancelled because of wet grounds. In a strange twist, Glendale recently had to forfeit a game while in the middle of the contest.
That’s life at the moment for the Vaqueros.
“It’s been a big challenge for our team,” Glendale coach Sal Pizzo said after Glendale suffered a 12-0 loss to visiting L.A. Mission on Tuesday in a Western State Conference East Division game at the Glendale Sports Complex that was called after the fifth inning. “We’ve been through a lot with injuries — we’ve had one player who has been in and out of the hospital — and it’s been a challenge every day.
“We’ve had to reschedule a lot of games and we’ve had games postponed and will now not be played. It’s definitely a burden for us because we have a smaller-sized roster. Yet, they still find that joy to go out there and play.”
Glendale (3-20-1, 0-9 in the division) stayed with L.A. Mission (16-15, 6-4) for the first half of the game before things quickly fell apart.
Glendale trailed, 1-0, heading to the fourth before L.A. Mission scored four runs in the fourth and seven in the fifth.
“That’s the way it’s been in a lot of our games,” said Pizzo, whose team recently ended a 16-game losing skid before having to forfeit a nonconference game Saturday against Pasadena City College while in the middle of the contest after Glendale lost a player to injury and the Vaqueros didn’t have enough players to field a full squad. “We compere well early in the games and then something happens and the wheels fall off.
“That’s happened again today. It’s the story of our year and we just have to get through it and continue to play hard.”
The Eagles took a 1-0 lead in the second on a sacrifice fly by Grace Pazos.
Ashley Silva recorded a run-scoring single in the fourth to give Mission a 2-0 lead. Later in the inning, Gysselle Soto (team-high four hits) had a two-run single to extend the lead to 5-0.
Mission sealed the victory with a big fifth inning.
Christal Rooney gave the Eagles a 6-0 lead with a RBI-single. Julissa Rodriguez later had a run-scoring single to make it 7-0. Alyanna Martinez capped the scoring with a three-run inside-the-park home run to left.
The Eagles received two hits from Sydney Caballero. Silva, Rodriguez, Martinez and Pazos each scored two runs.
Glendale was limited to three hits (all singles) by Mission starting pitcher Karina Aguilar, who struck out seven and walked one in a complete-game performance.
The Vaqueros got one hit apiece from Reagan Atallah, Kayla Duran and Leslie Gonzalez.
Glendale sophomore center fielder Eve Ramirez, one of two returners, said the Vaqueros have tried to end their frustration.
“It’s hard because we’re going out there and trying our best and then something just happens,” Ramirez said. “We just need to mesh together and work things out.”
Glendale will participate in another division home game at 2:30 p.m. Thursday against L.A. Valley College.
Twitter: @TCNCharlesRich
