The women’s softball team stormed into league play this month with a 7-5 win over College of the Sequoias on March 1, and two wins over Merced City College March 3.

The Rams’ continued excellence keeps them in second place in Northern California and fifth in the entire state. They rode a six-game win streak into their home tournament March 5 and 6, and would finish the weekend off unscathed, going 2-0.

In their first game of the tournament the Rams beat the Riverside Tigers 9-1 in what would be their sixth game shortened due to a mercy (run) rule this season.

The Tigers would manufacture a run in the first inning off of sophomore Sarah Santana, but that was all they would get. She went the distance, allowing only five hits along the way to her thirteenth victory of the season.

Freshman Cameryn Reichle led off the bottom of the first inning with a hit, and the Rams would not be behind for long as fellow Freshman Karen Zamora drove her in with a two-out single.

In the second, a string of great at-bats by the Rams brought two more runs on the board. Sophomore Aubrey Blankenburg got the rally started with a base hit. Freshman Adri Martinez dropped down a sacrifice bunt; but the Tigers tried unsuccessfully, to get Blankenburg out at second.

With runners on first and second, sophomore Macy Denney ripped an RBI single back up the middle, scoring Blankenburg; and sophomore Savannah Ibal capped off the inning with a sacrifice fly, scoring Martinez.

The Rams would go into cruise-control after that: Santana dominated in the circle and the rest of the team looked comfortable at the plate the whole game.

Blankenburg launched her fourth home run of the season in the fifth inning, and Cameryn Reichle walked the Rams off with a monster two-run double to the right field gap.

In the second game of the Saturday doubleheader, the Rams faced off against the Sacramento City Panthers. Santana toed the rubber once again, and showed no signs of fatigue.

She threw a complete game shut-out, and did not allow a single walk the entire game.

Karen Zamora would be the first Ram to strike, clobbering a two-run double to right in the bottom of the first inning. The Rams put pressure on the shaky Panther defense, forcing a few errors in the infield that would lead to runs.

Then, in the fourth inning, Santana put the team on her back with a monster three-run shot (her fifth of the season) that essentially put the game out of reach.

Sunday’s festivities were put on hold from the start because of the thunderstorms Saturday night. Due to the poor field conditions and the strong possibility of rain, the game scheduled for noon against the Hartnell Panthers was cancelled.

They were able to get the field manicured and ready to go for the second game scheduled against the Santa Rosa Roscoes, but they would have to wait almost an hour past the planned original start time (2:30 pm) before they could start.

After a quick top of the first inning, the Rams once again came up and scored in the first with an RBI by Karen Zamora. Santa Rosa came ready to play, though, and exploded for seven runs in the second inning thanks in part to a grand slam.

The Rams would begin to mount a comeback in the fourth inning, but the game was called early because it was simply too dark out. Since the game had not yet reached the fifth inning, it will be considered a “no contest” – no winner, or loser – thus keeping the Rams eight-game winning streak in tact.