Santa Barbara High softball earned an 8-4 non-league victory over Nordhoff on the road on Friday.
The Dons started the game with a bang, as Alina Magdaleno sent the second pitch of the day over the left field fence to give her team an early 1-0 lead.
Later in the inning, Aleeya Zaragoza doubled the lead to 2-0 with an RBI sacrifice fly to score Laila Hernandez, who had singled.
Nordhoff answered with a run in the bottom half, but Santa Barbara High came back and plated four runs in the top of the third.
In that inning, Magdaleno slugged her second leadoff home run of the game and Hernandez, Alanah Salas, Zaragoza and Paoloa Martinez all singled to extend the lead to 6-2.
“Alina had a hot bat today, she smoked those balls over left field,” Santa Barbara High head coach Julie Kittle said.
The Dons added insurance runs in the third and seventh innings to eventually pull out the win.
Madison Benedict tossed a complete game in the circle for the Dons, allowing four runs without walking a batter and striking out six. Of her 77 total pitches, 64 were strikes.
“Madison had a great day on the rubber in Ojai. She was on point today,” Kittle said. “Our outfield was busy today, putting out all attempts.
“Aleeya Zaragoza, Paola Martinez and Victoria Arrellano were phenomenal. Having three seniors out in the grass today was the answer.”
Santa Barbara High will take on rival San Marcos in a two-game set next week.
Ventura 10, San Marcos 3
The Royals dropped a rescheduled Channel League matchup with the Cougars on Friday in Ventura.
“We had opportunities to score in almost every inning and we just couldn’t get the timely hits,” San Marcos head coach Emily Dietz said.
Ventura jumped out to an early 3-0 lead after scoring two runs in the first and adding one in the second. San Marcos then got on the board in the third on an RBI single off the bat of Isa Malarkey to cut the deficit to 3-1.
However, the Cougars responded with one run in the fourth and poured on six runs in the fifth to pull away for the win.
The Royals got two runs in the top of the seventh courtesy of a Ventura error, but the Cougars settled back in and closed out the win.
Solana Sandoval led the San Marcos offense by going 3-for-4 while both Malarkey and Reese Large tallied two hits. Lucy Dessert did the pitching, allowing four earned runs while striking out four in six innings.
The Royals will host the Dons on Monday at 3:30 p.m.