Panthers win third straight on the road at Bakersfield

The Chaffey Panthers traveled to Bakersfield on Friday and emerged victorious over the Renegades, with an 8-5 non-conference win.

Chaffey struck in the top of the first inning as freshman shortstop Nevaeha Tarin laced a two-out single and sophomore third base man Fernanda Cano smashed her 7th home run of the season for a quick 2-0 lead.

Bakersfield responded in the bottom half of the inning by taking advantage of a Panther error and tied the game at 2-2.

The Panthers responded in the top of the second inning with four more runs. Freshman right fielder Makayla Enriquez knocked in the first run with a single, scoring starting pitcher, freshman Sarah Hernandez.  Enriquez promptly stole second and freshman second base man Micayla Arreola followed with a single, moving Enriquez to third.

Rosyvette Garcia followed that with a sacrifice fly for another RBI and then Tarin singled home Arreola. Cano then singled for her second hit on the day and sophomore center fielder Lauren Chappell drove Tarin in with Chaffey’s seventh hit of the inning to make it a 6-2 game.

The Renegades cut into the lead in their half of the inning, closing the gap to 6-4 but Chaffey responded with another run in the 4th inning as Chappell drove in Garcia with a single to center field.

The Panthers closed out the scoring in the 5th inning. Enriquez started off the inning with her third single of the game and again stole second. After moving to third on a groundout, she came home on a perfectly executed squeeze bunt by Garcia, giving Chaffey the 8-5 lead.

Freshman reliever Bryanna Ortega shut down the Bakersfield offense in the 5th, 6th and 7th innings to earn her second save on the season and improve Chaffey’s record to 10-6.

The Panthers begin a two-week homestand by hosting the Citrus Owls on Tuesday, March 3.