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The women’s softball team suffered its fourth straight loss to No. 14 Mt. Sac, 14-0 on Tuesday, after falling to Long Beach, 4-1, East L.A., 13-4 and El Camino, 9-8 last week.

The Lancers drop to sixth place in the South Coast Conference, 4-9 and 12-18 overall.

Timid at-bats were the downfall of the team’s performance against first place Mt. Sac (23-3, 13-0). A usually exceptional offensive display was not apparent.

“We were not aggressive at all,” said Head Coach Brittany Williams. “[It wasn’t] until the last inning, where we saw three balls hit hard. We also need to be more aggressive at the plate and defensively.”

In the second inning, the Lancers got their first hit off the Mounties by freshman first baseman Sara Quintero. Three other Lancers – freshmen Allison Lacey, Jazmin Hernandez and Vanessa Contreras – got hits, but weren’t able to follow through.

“Every time we hit it hard on the ground, we forced them to make mistakes,” said Williams. “But unfortunately, we were passive at the plate.”

Freshman pitcher Cierra Newton allowed 18 hits with 11 errors and contributed with major defensive plays.

“Newton did her job, which was getting ground balls and fly balls, but we didn’t play great defense behind her,” said Williams. “In order to turn things around we have to have more energy in the dugout and on the field consistently.”

On March 21, a last-ditch effort by LBCC (17-9, 9-4) left the Lancers walking away with a three-point loss, 4-1.

The team had a one-point lead for most of the game until the fifth inning when a hit by left fielder Jezeree Misaalafua brought home second baseman Melissa Yepez. Later on in the top of the sixth inning, the Viking’s catcher Amanda Padilla hit a three-run double to seal the team’s victory.

PCC’s Lacey reached base every at bat, with one double. Hernandez went 2-for-4 at the plate, while Contreras contributed one hit.

“Our defense was strong, but we could have been more aggressive with our bats,” said Quintero.

Quintero summed up the challenges of the March 19 game against El Camino and the March 20 game against ELAC.

“Last week was a very bad week for us,” said Quintero. “[Against] El Camino we were battling every inning, but our defense did not step it up. Against ELAC we lost focus during the game. We were lacking in our offense and weren’t aggressive at the plate.”

The Lancers face L.A. Harbor today at 2 p.m. at Robinson Park.

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