Saddleback softball team streak ends, but showed grit though hard fought match

Pitcher #23 Kylee Cammarato (middle) high-fiving her teammates. Infielders #5 Millie Maher and #28 Mikayla Mendoza (left). Catcher #1 Ehva Cifuentes-Zombulovic (right) Photo Credit: Ben Kokklenberg

The Saddleback softball team’s four-game winning streak came to an end losing 3-1 against Golden West at Bobcats Field. Despite the loss, the Bobcats (15-8) showed resilience through a hard fought match against the Rustlers (13-7).

The Bobcats still executed crucial plays with third base Ka’ui Garcia scoring the teams only run from an RBI ground out by catcher Ehva Cifuentes-Zombulovic. They also got runners to be in scoring position with infielders Millie Maher and Mikayla Mendoza both getting hits and Maher stealing bases.

Starting pitcher Kylee Cammarato kept the Bobcats in the hunt while on the mound. She had to face the Rustlers offense and their four hits with two runs scored, loaded bases and contested calls behind the plate. 

Cammarato struck out six batters and the defense made several great catches on the fly.

“I was just focusing on each batter and hitting my spots, and if they did hit the ball, I knew that my defense would back me up,” said Cammarato, who is a freshman. “I was just really taking one pitch at a time, one batter at a time.”

Softball Head Coach Krysten Fisher sees the loss as momentum to teach her players to keep fighting, stay unfazed when calls are made and learn from each play to keep moving forward for future games.

“As far as the adversity, we’ve talked about making adjustments at the plate, and offensively just producing more to help support our pitcher out there,” said Coach Fisher. “You can’t let them dictate what the outcome is, and you just gotta battle back, have each other’s back here, and fight through it.”

Coach Fisher also said that the team through their grit showed great energy and will keep fighting for victory, staying productive at bat and showing camaraderie even if the outcome isn’t what they wish for.

“We always gotta keep our energy up, and even if we do something that’s not the best, we know how to fight back,” said Cammarato.
“We know how to get back up to where we truly can play at our real scale level that we’ve been showing so far.”

The Bobcats will now travel to Golden West to compete in the second game of the series against the Rustlers on Thursday at 2 p.m and return to Bobcats Field on Friday for the third game of the series.

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