The Pirate softball team scored three runs in the top of the seventh inning Thursday to propel VC (15-2-1, 6-0) to a 9-6 win at Cuesta College in San Luis Obispo. Ashlyn Flinchum had the game-winning hit, a single that scored Isabel Gallegos to begin the three-run rally. Flinchum also did the job in the pitcher's circle, throwing a complete game while striking out seven Cougars and giving up six runs, three earned.
Maggie Howe had a pair of hits in the game with two RBI while Isabella Ayala and Mia Guerrero also knocked in two runs each. Jocelyn Ortega crossed the plate four times and Gallegos scored twice.
Ventura took the early lead in the top of the second. Howe drew a one-out bases-loaded walk that scored Ortega, who had led off the inning with a single.
Ortega led off the fourth with a walk, and eventually came around to score when Howe hit an RBI single.
Cuesta got things going in the bottom half of the frame, scoring three runs to take a 3-2 advantage.
Ventura countered with a four-run fifth inning. Two walks by Ahlyssa Guzman and Gallegos, respectively, sandwiched by a hit by pitch for Lauren Albrent to load the bases with no outs. Ortega reached base on an error that scored Guzman before Ayala hit a double to score Albrent and Gallegos. One out later Guerrero hit a sacrifice fly to score Guzman for a 6-3 Pirate margin.
The Cougars scored twice in the bottom of the sixth to even the score, setting the stage for Ventura's late rally.
Gallegos led off the top of the seventh with a single and Ortega reached base on a walk. One out later, Flinchum slapped a single to score Gallegos as VC went ahead 7-6. Guerrero followed with an RBI single and Ciana Garcia hit a sacrifice fly to set the final 9-6 count.
Ventura next heads to East Los Angeles on Saturday March 11, weather permitting, to play the Huskies and Fullerton College.