San Marcos banged out 15 hits and the pitching duo of Hailee Rios and Aliyah Huerta-Leipner combined on a two-hitter, leading the Royals to a 5-2 win over Segerstrom in a CIF Division 4 softball wild-card game on Tuesday in Santa Ana.
The win advances San Marcos to a first-round game at Linfield Christian in Temecula on Thursday.
The Royals tied the score at 1-1 in the third inning. Huerta-Leipner led off with walk, Cara Christian doubled her to third and Rios singled her home for tying run.
San Marcos blew the game open in the fifth. With one out, Hailey Fryklund and Sienna Berlinger hit back-to-back singles. Alex Pitchford stepped up for another single, driving home Fryklund with the go-ahead run. One out later, Megan Cunnison drew a walk to load the bases. Segerstrom brought in its second pitcher and, after getting the second out, she gave up a two-out RBI single to Lauren Pitchford. Huerta-Leipner followed wit a two-run double down the left-field line for a 5-1 lead.
Segerstrom added a run in the bottom of the fifth.
Berlinger had three hits and the Pitchford sisters each had two hits and a RBI.
San Marcos improves to 17-10 on the season.
— Noozhawk sports editor Barry Punzal can be reached at bpunzal@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.