The longest road trip of the Western State Conference season turned into the longest ride home for the Pirate softball team Thursday. VC gave up one unearned run to the host Cuesta Cougars, falling 1-0 in a key WSC North Division contest in San Luis Obispo. Brittany Perez had two hits, including a double, for Ventura (21-11, 12-5) and Arianna Rivas and Celeste Ekman recorded a double and a single, respectively in the contest. Anissa Padilla had a strong outing in the pitcher's circle, giving up no earned runs in six complete innings.
The Cougars scored the lone run of the game with two outs in the bottom of the second inning with an error and two singles.
VC had numerous scoring opportunities including in the first inning when Rivas had a one-out double. In the top of the fifth, Ekman singled to lead things off and Christina Hart reached on an error. One out later, Alyssa Frutos sacrificed the pair to second and third with two outs, but VC could not plate the tying run. In the sixth inning, Perez had a two-out double and was stranded to end the frame.
Ventura has the weekend to recover before traveling to Santa Monica for a double-header on Monday April 17 in a make up of a rain-out on March 21. On Tuesday April 18 VC will host Bakersfield in another twin-bill beginning at 1:00 pm.