The Vikings started off their three-game home stand with a dominant 21-1 win over Compton that extended their win streak to five games.
When asked about the team’s performance head coach Megan Martinez responded, “Always the first game in the week is important to get a good rhythm. It was very important for us to come out our best, get ahead and let everybody play, even the bench.”
The Vikings scored most of their runs in the first and third innings scoring seven runs in the first and nine runs in the third.
The dominant pitching performance was all thanks to starter Ashley Hester and reliever sophomore Kirstin Sanchez who struck out a combined 11 batters in five innings.
Hester pitched two scoreless innings striking out five and giving up no hits.
“My curveball, changeup, and screwball were really good,” said sophomore pitcher Ashley Hester when asked what was working on the mound.
Sanchez would follow Hester’s great performance by throwing three innings striking out six while allowing one run on one hit.
After two innings the Vikings were up 9-0.
With such a lead, the starters were pulled and some new faces were able to get on the field and get some action.
“Our bench isn’t an ordinary bench. They can go start on any team in the conference and be just as good. It’s important to let all those freshmen play, get reps, have fun, and for the usual starters to cheer them on the way the rest of their team cheers them on every single day,” said Martinez.
The bulk of the subs came in the third inning in which the Vikings would score nine runs and they followed that by scoring three in the fourth, which lead to the final score of 21-1.
The Vikings will play game two of their three-game home stand on Wednesday, March 1 at 3:00 p.m. against Chaffey.