Taft College had its two-game winning streak snapped, dropping a doubleheader set at College of the Canyons on Friday afternoon in Santa Clarita. The Cougars rallied late in the opener but fell by a final score of 10-8. The afternoon came to a close with an 11-3 loss in six innings.
The day looked to be going Taft's way early in Game 1. The Cougars put together a two-out, five-run rally in the top of the second inning. Victoria Rosales lined a two-run single to score Kaitlyn Allen and Beige Reinhardt to get Taft on the board. Lohealani Kamau capped the rally with the big blow, a three-run home run that gave Taft a 5-0 lead.
But Canyons chipped away and eventually took over the lead. Canyons scored two runs in the bottom of the second, two more in the third, and went ahead for good with a three-run, fourth inning. Three final runs in the sixth extended COC's lead to 10-6.
Allen hit a RBI single in the fifth to score Calli Martin before Taft put together one final push in the seventh. Martin singled to open the frame and moved to third on a double by Reinhardt. Allen walked to load the bases to set up a potential big inning for the Cougars.
Jade Martinez followed with a sacrifice fly to drive Martin. Abrianna Carr promptly lined a single to bring in Reinhardt. But with the bases still loaded and two outs, Rosales grounded out to close the game.
Rosales went 3 for 5 with 2 RBI to lead Taft at the plate. Kamau drove in three runs while Carr and Martin both had two hits each.
From the circle, Carr went the distance in the loss. She allowed eight earned runs and 14 hits.
Taft got off to another good start in Game 2, scoring a run in the first and getting two more runs in the fourth to take a 3-1 lead. But Canyons rallied for four runs in the fifth and put up five runs in the sixth to close out the mercy-rule win.
Kamau hit a RBI single in the first to drive in Martinez. Allie Dobbs added a RBI double to score Kamau and Martin brought in Dobbs with her single to account for Taft's scoring in the fourth.
Isabelle Martinez took the loss in the complete-game effort. She tossed 5 1/3 innings, allowing five earned runs and nine hits.
Friday's losses dropped Taft to 3-5 overall. The Cougars return to action on Tuesday (Feb. 12) when they host Gavilan College in a non-conference doubleheader. Game 1 is set for a 12 p.m. start.