Madison McNamee struck out seven of the 10 batters she faced and Alyssa Richter went 2-4 with a solo homer on Tuesday as SBCC routed L.A. Mission 7-1 in its softball opener at Pershing Park.
The Vaqueros jumped out to a 4-0 first-inning lead on singles by Sydney Townes, Monica Salas and Sloane Greeley and two errors that brought in three runs. SBCC added single runs in each of the next three innings on an RBI hit by Richter, a run-scoring single to right by catcher Michaela Peters in the third and Richter's two-out blast over the left-center field fence on a 3-2 count that made it 7-0 in the fourth.
The Vaqueros return five starters from last year's team that went 30-14 and had the best playoff run in school history, reaching the Super Regionals and placing seventh in Southern California. Four All-WSC Gold Division players are back, including first-teamers McNamee, Townes and Salas.
SBCC will play in the nine-team WSC North Division this year with 24 conference games.
The Vaqueros had two home games rained out last week.
"I was excited to finally get on the field and finally show all the stuff we've been practicing," said Richter, a freshman shortstop from Brighton, Colo., who drove in two runs and played flawless defense in her collegiate debut. "I've been working on my swing and I just wanted to put the ball in the play (on the home run).
"This gets us off on the right foot and gets us excited for the season."
McNamee, a freshman from Cabrillo High in Lompoc, didn't allow a hit in three innings. The lone baserunner reached on a passed ball after a strikeout. Calista Wendell tossed one-run, two-hit ball over the final four frames to earn the save.
The Eagles (2-4) didn't get a hit until Sarena Cruz drilled a leadoff double in the fifth. Pinch-runner Alicia Galivaz scored on a sacrifice fly by Delilah Gomez. The first two batters in the seventh got infield singles for Mission but Wendell got Cruz to hit into a forceout at third and Diana Martin grounded to Richter at shortstop and she started a 6-4-3 double play to end the game.
"We were planning to pitch Madison only half the game," said coach Paula Congleton. "I thought we did really well, considering that we had hadn't been on the field for a couple of weeks with all the rain. Monday was the first day we had a full-field practice.
"Aly had a great debut. She made some great plays up the middle, went back in the grass to make a catch and had that great homer. That thing probably traveled 220 feet."
The Vaqueros open a five-game road trip on Thursday at L.A. Valley, starting at 2:30 p.m.
