The Hornets won round one in the CCCAA Southern Regionals against the Cougars on Saturday afternoon at home, 5-1, to advance to round 2.

The pitching of freshman Allyson Fuentes held strong with no hits until the last inning where she gave up two hits and one run.

Fuentes stayed focused and closed out the seventh inning after Cougars’ sophomore right fielder Julia Fuentes hit a double that brought freshman left fielder Schalyn Rhambo home for the Cougars’ only run.

“I wasn’t worried. I took a deep breath, took a moment to collect myself. But I wasn’t nervous,” said Fuentes after getting the win at home.

The second inning was a struggle for the Cougars’ infield as they committed two errors, allowing freshman catcher Serina Vue to score an unearned run. Vue reached first base on a walk, second on a fielding error by sophomore shortstop Memorie Munoz, and home on another infield error by the Cougars, making the score 1-0.

The third inning was a clean inning for Fuentes, setting up the Hornets’ offense to add more runs to their lead. Second base freshman Jordan Elias singled to third and stole second to get into scoring position.

Alyssa Garcia, the Hornets’ freshman center fielder singled on a bunt to the pitcher. Fullerton capitalized on the play when another fielding error by the Cougars allowed Garcia to reach second base and Elias to score an unearned run.

Vue was at-bat once again, and she is able to get on base with a bunt that went through Cougars’ starting pitchers’ Lexy Angulo’s glove. Garcia got home and score another unearned run for the Hornets due to an infield error, taking their lead to 3-0.

“We prepared for the pitcher,” said Coach Marian “Speedy” Mendoza. “She throws really hard. She is a very aggressive pitcher. So we got to be aggressive on the hitting.”

During another clean inning for Fuentes in the fourth, two of the outs went to freshman short stop Cassidy Hornung, where she fielded and threw to sophomore first baseman Meah Almaraz. Fuentes grabbed the third out as she fielded a ground ball and threw to Almaraz to put an end to the Cougars’ offense.

The bottom of the fourth is were the Hornets’ scored their last two runs. Sophomore outfielder Alyssa Caulford singled to left field and stole second base putting her in scoring position.

Freshman outfielder Coco Siono singled to left center field, thanks to a dropped ball due to bad communication between Cougars outfielders which saw the two collide, putting her at first and Caulford stayed put at second.

Elias, who had scored in the third, singled which filled all the bags. With the bases loaded, Almaraz smacked a line drive up the middle getting two RBI’s in the process, bringing Elias and Siono home to score.

“I was so hyped. It was the best thing ever because I was already struggling in the first half,” said Almaraz of her RBIs. “I was just thinking, ‘hit it on the ground.’ The pitcher gave me the opportunity and I was able to get around it and take it up the middle.”

The inning ended when sophomore designated hitter Olivia Nunez popped up to the Cougars’ shortstop Munoz for the third out, but the damage had already been done.

The fifth was another clean inning for Fuentes. For the Hornets’, offensively, they were able to get a hit from sophomore third baseman Alendy Aguilar, who tripled to right field. Aguilar was huge during game one for the Hornets where she recorded an RBI and was 2-3 at bat with both hits being doubles.

Both teams put up zeroes in the top and bottom of the sixth inning.

“We got a hit and [then] we started getting a little rally going. The girls start hitting, one after the other,” said Mendoza. “They [Cougars] made a couple of little mistakes and we capitalized with our base running.”

With this win, the Hornets eliminated the Cougars.

Their next opponent will be the winner between LA Mission Eagles and Cerritos College Falcons, a series Cerritos leads 1-0 at the time of print.

The Hornets play next on Friday, May 12, at a time and place to be determined.