Sticks and Balls !!

Cub great Ernie Banks was renowned for saying "lets play two". On Saturday, a bunch of local high schoolers took his advice. Seven teams, 3 softball and 4 baseball, each played double-headers. And it was a great day for it - the weather was excellent, and several of the games were nail-biters. One of the stars of the day was Cabrillo varsity softball player Adriana Segura (left), who pitched a complete game shut-out for the Conquistadors.

But first a quick note on Friday's lack of action - for those who don't know the Lompoc campus experienced a lock-down situation which wiped out the Friday schedule. The Lompoc / Cabrillo swim meet, and Lompoc softball (varsity and JV) games at Coast Union are being re-scheduled.

And now games that took place...

Softball

Cabrillo
Varsity: lost 3-2 to Nipomo, beat Santa Barbara 1-0.

The Cabrillo varsity squad completed play in their own tournament with an overall 3-1 record - good enough for 2nd place. Following easy wins last weekend against Carpenteria and Bishop Diego the Conquistadors faced tougher competition on day 2.

In the first game, the Conq's learned that pitching and defense, or the lack there-of, can make a big difference in a game. Two walks and two errors in the top of the first inning gave two runs to the Nipomo Titans. Cabrillo tied it up in the fifth with a pair of singles, a bunt sacrifice, and a wild pitch. They also were able to snuff out several Titan rallys in the middle innings, assisted in no small measure by center fielder Kelcie Pecyna's great running catches of wind-whipped balls in consecutive innings. But in the top of the seventh, two sacrifices moved a runner from first to third and she scored on a wild pitch. Cabrillo tried to mount a comeback, but was eventually shut down in the bottom of the inning by Nipomo pitcher Courtney Cline who pitched a complete game. Freshman Alyssa Abayari took the loss for Cabrillo even though they outhit the Titans 8-1.
In game two against Santa Barbara the roles were reversed somewhat. Sophomore pitcher Adrianna Segura took the one run her Cabrillo teammates pushed across in the first, and made it stand up until the sixth when they scored again. She threw a complete game, one hit, shutout for the win. In seven innings Segura struck out twelve and walked only two.

Tournament Results:

Day One (7 games)
Santa Maria 6-5 over Santa Ynez
Nipomo 5-3 over Santa Barbara
Cabrillo 12-0 over Carpenteria
Santa Barbara 13-3 over Bishop Diego
Santa Maria 8-2 over Carpenteria
Cabrillo 11-0 over Bishop Diego
Nipomo 9-1 over Santa Ynez

Day Two (7 games)
Santa Maria 9-6 over Bishop Diego
Santa Ynez 5-3 over Carpenteria
Nipomo 3-2 over Cabrillo
Cabrillo 2-0 over Santa Barbara
Nipomo 2-1 over Santa Maria
Santa Ynez 12-2 over Bishop Diego
Santa Barbara / Carpenteria
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Junior Varsity:

At the Arroyo Grande Tournament the Cabrillo JV put themselves back into contention for a title with two wins. After an opening 3-2 loss to SLO in the initial game last week, the coaches thought that the girls were a little anxious and were pressing too hard. So they tried to get them to relax. The result - three consecutive wins, 5-2 over Nipomo, 13-0 vs Pioneer Valley, and 3-2 against Righetti. Amanda Leake pitched all four games, and Cabrillo received good hitting from the top 6-7 places in the order.

Lompoc
The Braves varsity traveled to the Simi Valley tournament, and split two games - eking out a 9-8 win vs Lenore and falling to a very good (now 6-1) Pacifica team 8-1.

Baseball

Cabrillo Conq's "Galvan"-ized
Varsity: Won two vs Carpenteria 12-4 and 5-4 (12 innings)[Story]
After making quick work of Carpenteria in the opener, the Cabrillo baseball spent most of the afternoon game locked in a titanic struggle with the Warriors. Although both teams had numerous chances to pull out the win during the 12 inning affair, it was the Conquistadors who seemed to have an advantage. It was an advantage, however, that they had a hard time converting into points.
They had taken an early 1-0 lead, only to see it disappear into a 3-1 deficit. Then, in the bottom of the 6th, David Fraats hit a two-run triple to tie the game at three all. Unfortunately, they were unable to get Fraats home and thus began their woes. They had scoring opportunites in every subsequent inning.
After the Warriors pushed a run across in the top of the 8th, they reponded with a Justin Boggs double, and an Aaron Naputi single that plated Boggs. Another single put runners on first and second with nobody out, but the Cabrillo bats went cold again.
Both teams continued to threaten, but without result, until the bottom of the twelfth inning when Deuce Galvan finally crushed a shot to right center that brought Fraats home from third.
Game one pitchers were Geary (5 inn.) and Anderson (the sixth) for Carpenteria. While Aaron Naputi started for Cabrillo and Tyson Ramsden relieved him in the 7th. In the second game, Cabrillo starter Brian Engler went seven, Justin Boggs relieved him for three, and Patrick Somers finished up. Warriors starter Casey Novesky also went seven innings, before Nathan Saito took over for the last five.

Junior Varsity: Won two at Carpenteria 19 - 4 and 13 - 3 (both 5 innings).
The JV team had a much easier time of it on the road as they hammered the warriors for 32 runs, and won both games under "mercy-rule" conditions. Both Joe Segura and Sean Greathead had homers and Cabrillo batters hit about a half dozen triples for new coach Buck Sharpe. Evan Aguilar started the first game on the mound before giving way to joe Segura for the fifth. Likewise, Sean Greathead pitched four innings in the the second game before Thomas White mopped up.

Cabrillo / Lompoc

Freshman: Lompoc won twice, a 12-11 nail-biter and a 7-1 cruise.

At Bodary Field in Lompoc, the Braves appeared to be running away with game one of the double-header. They had built a 12-6 lead going into the top of the seventh, mainly on the strenth of Jason Lashore's three run double in the bottom of the fourth, for a 7-3 margin, and the bottom of the fifth when they turned three singles, an error, and Christian Garcia's double into 4 runs. Cabrillo whittled down the 11-3 lead by massing several singles in the top of the sixth and scoring two runs. Lompoc, however , responed with a run in the bottom half of the inning. At the top of the seventh Cabrillo loaded the bases on a walk ,a single, and an error and the Conq's were off - using singles, errors, and sacrifices to cut the lead to a single run with a runner on third before their last out was used.
Mitchell Williams started on the mound for the Conq's, with Nate Lewis (5th) and Matt Rotundi (the sixth) each contributing an inning in relief.
Jamel Whitaker (down briefly from the varsity) opened for the Braves, and then gave way to Mr. Howard and Pat Hill .
In the second game, Lompoc prevailed 7-1, scoring three in the 1st, two in the fifth, and one each in the sixth and seventh. Adam Clark went three innings, and Patrick Hill four more for the Braves. Whitaker (triple,double), Drew Sapp, and David Berber all had good days at the plate for Lompoc. ----el stato