In recent weeks, the Odessa College softball team has gotten used to scoring double digits and putting Western Junior College Athletic Conference opponents away early.
The Lady Wranglers didn’t get performances like those in their doubleheader against Clarendon College, but still swept the Lady Bulldogs Saturday at the Wrangler Softball Complex.
Odessa College leaned on its defense in both games, winning first contest 4-0 and securing a second victory with a 4-1 score.
The effort meant another series sweep for the Lady Wranglers, extending their winning streak to 20 games.
“They’re not all easy, there’s plenty of times that you just got to get out there and you’ve got to fight for it,” Odessa College coach Jeff Jackson said. “It may not always be pretty, it may not always be easy and it may not all go in your favor.
“At the end of the day, if you can fight all the way to the end and find a way to be successful in the right moments then you’re going to come away with a win and I thought our girls did a really good job of just that.”
Although Odessa College didn’t blow up the scoreboard, the team still got its customary strong performance from Aydenne Brown in the circle in Game 1.
The right-handed pitcher had success retiring the Clarendon College batters in the opening victory, striking out nine and allowing two hits.
Odessa College got out to a hot start in its first at-bat, recording three hits in the bottom of the first inning.
A line drive single to left field from Brooke Nauman drove in Ari Ybarra and Kawehi Ili, giving the Lady Wranglers a 2-0 lead to build on.
Clarendon College found a way to slow Odessa College down in the second, but couldn’t quite figure out Brown’s pitches.
The Lady Bulldogs didn’t get their first hit until the top of the third, when Odalys Garcia-Peret singled to left field.
Odessa College went on to increase its lead in the bottom of the fifth with a 2-run double from Ili, which proved to be enough as the Lady Wranglers forced the Lady Bulldogs to leave the bases loaded in the seventh.
In the fourth game of the series, Jackson decided to give Rayna Cruickshanks some time in the circle to continue gauging her development up to this point in the season.
She’s set to be the only returning pitcher on the roster next year.
“She’s a pitcher who we have to have development from, we have to have tough outs with,” Jackson said. “To have success in those situations, it’s very encouraging that she’s able to get out of those situations with relatively no harm done.”
Cruickshanks pitched six innings in the final game, striking out three and allowing one run.
The Lady Bulldogs adjusted their game plan and found more offensive success to the tune of nine hits.
Both teams kept each other off the board through the first two innings, until Odessa College struck first with a RBI triple from Lauren Gonzales that drove in Kaylean Ayala in the bottom of the third.
Nauman gave the Lady Wranglers a 2-0 lead with a solo homer to right field in the bottom of the fourth, helping them pull away from a Lady Bulldogs team that didn’t fold easily.
Odessa College (45-3 overall, 19-1 conference) scored once more in the fifth before an RBI double from Clarendon’s Zori Serna scored Paola Zamacona in the top of the sixth, cutting the deficit to 3-1.
Clarisa Zapata went on to score the final run of the contest, reaching home off a sacrifice fly from Ari Ybarra in the bottom of the sixth.
“I think they’re a very disciplined team,” Jackson said of Clarendon College. “They do a really good job of just being tough outs, they don’t make anything easy on us.
“They made all of our pitchers work really hard for every out that they got.”
>> Follow Chris Amaya on Twitter at @OA_CAmaya
