Panthers jump into League Play, splitting first two games 1-1

On March 1, 2018, the Hartnell Softball Team began the quest for a league championship as they played their first League game against Gavilan. We had 12 hits and 3 RBIs compared to Gavilan's 29 at bats and 7 hits. Angelina Ruiz continued her offensive success as she had 2 hits. Bethany Cardenas had 2 RBIs driving in two runs and pitcher Nicole Martinez also had an RBI to add to her 3 strikeouts and only allowing 9 hits on the game facing 34 Batters on the game securing the 5-2 win for Hartnell as they begin conference play. Then on March 6, 2018, the Panthers traveled to Cabrillo College, home of the Seahawks. Cabrillo got off to early success as they had a 7-2 lead at the bottom of the fourth inning. Madison Perez, had her first 3-hit game of the season and Adalena Infante had 2 hits and 2 RBIs. Pitchers for the day consisted of Nicole Martinez, who pitched 3.1 innings and Danielle Caoili who pitched 2.1 innings. The game did come down to the last inning as Hartnell drove in 3 runs in the 7th inning and had more players on bases, but ultimately fell short 7-5 to Cabrillo. Hartnell now sits at 7-8 (.466) and 1-1 (.500) in League play with 81 runs, .314 batting average, and a .405 slugging percentage.

Angelina Ruiz currently sits atop in the Coast-South Conference in stolen bases with a total of 14 and is 14th in the state.

Lastly, on March 8, 2018, the Softball Panthers hosted San Jose City College as the first of three-game home stretch. Hartnell initially struggled letting SJCC take the lead with 3 runs at the top of the first inning. However, the Lady Panthers were able to answer right back scoring two runs and almost catching up to SJCC. Unfortunately, Hartnell would be unable to get anything going offensively throughout the game. The Lady Panthers held San Jose to two runs in the following innings, until San Jose broke out for six runs in the fourth inning. Unfortunately for the Panthers, the game would end with a loss for Hartnell with a final score of 12-2.

Hartnell Softball Head Coach, Andrew Watt, said "We're finding ourselves as a team and we're working on getting better by making sure we keep a prepared mindset throughout the week in practice and in games." Hartnell now has a 7- 9 overall record and has plenty of time to improve its record. The next home game will be against conference rival MPC on March 13, 2018 at 3:00 p.m. in our Softball field. See you there, Go Panthers!