Cougars Suffer 8-6 Road Loss at Bakersfield

BAKERSFIELD, Calif. — College of the Canyons and Bakersfield College combined to light up the scoreboard in the early going, but it was the Renegades' solid relief pitching and defense that held up longest in delivering an 8-6 road loss to the Cougars on Thursday.

The Cougars' defense committed four errors behind the efforts of pitchers Kaitlyn Reed, Milana Casillas and Ashley Russo resulting in three unearned runs. That turned out to be the difference in the game and resulted in COC suffering its third straight loss.

Bakersfield scored all eight of its runs within the first three innings, but COC could not break through and make the necessary comeback over the last four frames.

COC pitcher Ashley Russo held back the Bakersfield offense in relief by allowing just two hits and a walk while striking out three batters over three and 1/3 innings of work.

Reed (7-3) suffered her third loss of the season and lasted only two innings. She allowed three hits, four runs – two earned runs – two walks and struck out one batter.

Despite the rough outing, Reed still sports a 3.33 ERA across 67 and 1/3 innings this season.

COC shortstop Cheyenne Steward led the way for head coach Jon Wissmath's lineup going to 2-for-4 with two RBIs including her sixth home run of the season.

In 31 games, Steward is batting .477 with six homers, 31 RBI and 41 runs scored predominantly from the leadoff spot.

Steward has been hot at the dish of late. Since March 28, the freshman has seven multi-hit games, is batting .529, has hit four home runs and driven in 10 runs over a nine-game span.

Sophomore catcher Lauren Anderson also did well at the plate, going 3-for-4 with a run scored and an RBI. Anderson leads the team with 37 RBI and a .544 batting average.

The win drops the No. 4 ranked Cougars to 22-8-1 on the season and to 10-6 in the Western State Conference, Blue Division. The Cougars are currently tied for second place with Antelope Valley College and trail first place Citrus College.

The Cougars will next take on Long Beach City College at 2:30 p.m. on Friday, April 10.