San Marcos softball escaped with a dramatic 6-3 non-league victory over Lompoc High in nine innings on Friday in Lompoc.
The Royals had a lead through the first 6 ½ innings, but the Braves tied it up with three runs in the seventh via a pair of San Marcos defensive miscues to send the game into extras.
After a scoreless eighth inning, Solana Sandoval and Isa Malarkey led off the ninth with back-to-back singles. One batter later, Lucy Dessert, who had thrown all eight innings for the Royals, launched a three-run homer to give her team a 6-3 lead.
Lompoc threatened with a pair of baserunners in the bottom half to get the tying run to the plate, but Dessert got two consecutive flyouts to finish off the win.
“To pitch the entire (eight) innings and then come up and help yourself out heading into the bottom of the (ninth) inning was a big sigh of relief for Lucy,” San Marcos head coach Emily Dietz said. “I’m so happy for her, she’s so powerful and it was only a matter of time for her to get over the fence.”
The Royals wasted no time jumping out in front in the opening frame, as Sandoval belted a solo home run to lead off the game and give her team a 1-0 lead.
San Marcos doubled its advantage to 2-0 in the top of the fourth when Piper Kittle, who singled earlier in the frame, came around to score on a Lompoc error.
Dessert was dominant in the circle all day, as the only three runs allowed were unearned. She surrendered five hits and struck out four in her nine innings of work.
“Defensively, our first six innings were the cleanest and best I’ve seen all season,” Dietz said. “Isa Malarkey made a great diving catch up the middle. We showed a lot of range in our infield.
“The seventh inning was a great reminder that we can’t write off games as done before that last out is made. We lost our focus a little and let those errors get Lompoc back in the game.”
Offensively, Sandoval and Malarkey tallied three hits apiece as the top two hitters in the San Marcos batting order. Dessert and Kittle each had two hits as well.
The Royals (9-6, 4-4 Channel League) will be on the road for another non-league contest against Fillmore on Wednesday.