Riverside City Tiger, Sophia Franco-Colis, OF, hits the ball in the 3rd inning leading to the Tigers scoring a run during the April 20 game against the Orange Coast Pirates. Photo taken by Stephen Day, Viewpoints. 
Riverside City Tiger, Sarah Franco-Colis, INF, checks the outfield to see if rounding third for home is an option during the April 20 game against the Orange Crest Pirates. Photo taken by Stephen Day, Viewpoints. 
Riverside City College Tiger, Tessah Black, OF, stands on third with the bases loaded, waiting for the next pitch to be thrown during the April 20 game against Orange Crest Pirates. Photo taken by Stephen Day, Viewpoints. 
Riverside City College Tiger, Jazmine Lara, P, winds up and pitches the ball during the April 20 game against Orange Crest Pirates. Photo taken by Stephen Day, Viewpoints.
By Xavier Constantino
Despite a rough season for Riverside City College’s softball team, the Tigers took to the field for the final regular game of the season in a match-up against the Orange Coast College Pirates.
Both pitchers were dealing early on in the game, only giving up one run each through three innings.
In the fourth inning, Orange Coast scored another point on an RBI single after a triple to left field. RCC then responded by scoring on a single from Sara Franco-Colis that scored catcher Juliana Garcia.
The top of the lineup for the Tigers were due up after the defense took care of the top of the fifth inning.
Freshman Alicia Fitzgerald took to the plate and smashed a fastball over the right field fence. The Tigers took a 3-2 lead with Fitzgerald’s go-ahead home run.
“I knew I could do that,” Fitzgerald said. “With all the work I’ve done this season, I knew I could do that.”
The Tigers were now nearing the end of the game only needing to get six more outs to claim victory.
After a pop-up to second, freshman Alexis Pelayo bobbled a ball in right field, putting the tying run on base. Another error by the Tigers’ shortstop led to runners on the corners with only one out. The next Orange Coast batter hit a hard line drive to right that was caught by Pelayo to prevent the runners from advancing.
“Of course I panicked,” Pelayo stated. “But I just quickly shook it off and made up for the error.”
With a line out to short and three quick outs in the bottom of the sixth, the seventh inning had started.
The Tigers were now in a position to put the game away only needing three outs to seal the victory and end the regular season with a win.
After two singles and a player getting hit by a pitch, Orange Coast had the bases loaded with only one out. Orange coast then scored five straight runs on an error at short. An error at short scored the first run, then a single up the middle scored two and a single to short scored another two.
After a line out at second and a single that put a runner on third, orange coast got another RBI single that moved the score to 8-3 to end the inning.
The Tigers were not able to score in the seventh and only managed to put up one hit to end the game. The final score was 8-3 with Orange Coast taking home the win.
“We made too many mistakes,’’ head coach Michelle Dadonna said. “They were really aggressive so they did not hesitate to take advantage.”
With that loss, the 2022 softball season for the Tigers has come to an end.
