By Jesse Muñoz/COC Sports Information Director

College of the Canyons continued its winning ways vs. two highly regarded programs on Saturday, first downing El Camino 3-2 and later defeating Cypress in a wild 15-11 affair to sweep another home doubleheader and push its win streak to six games.

Canyons (6-3-1) started the morning a bit shaky with a series of errors following the 10 a.m. first pitch vs. El Camino (10-5). The Warriors jumped out to an early 2-0 advantage in the first inning despite not recording a hit, aided by four Cougar mishaps.

It would take a pair of scrappy runs in the sixth and a two-out, walk-off RBI-single from Julia Fuentes in the seventh to ultimately help Canyons get past El Camino.

COC used a different approach in the afternoon game, this time powering past Cypress (9-2) by a 15-11 final score. The Cougars scored three or more runs in each of the first four innings then held on the rest of the way to win its sixth straight. Fuentes and Ashlyn Heck each had four hits in the game.

El Camino and Cypress squared off in the middle contest with Cypress able to secure an 8-6 victory.

The Cougars have now swept back-to-back-to-back doubleheaders vs. Barstow, Santa Barbara City College and El Camino/Cypress after starting the season 0-3-1.

COC is batting .364 as a team and has outscored its opponents 45-16 during the win streak, with 11 of the surrendered runs coming in the game vs. Cypress. Two of the Cougars’ victories have come by way of five-inning shutouts.

Game 1 (3-2 Canyons Victory over El Camino)

Canyons starter Allyson Melgar was able to win again despite the Cougars spotting the Warriors a pair of runs and mostly keeping quiet at the plate.

Melgar (5-1) earned her fourth straight start by allowing just two hits but was forced to pitched out of several jams along the way. The Warriors worked five walks from Melgar to keep runners on the basepaths but could ultimately do no further damage.

Heck came around to score an unearned run for the first Cougars’ score in the sixth. Fuentes followed up by doing the same for a 2-2 tie as it was now El Camino’s turn to commit the fielding blunders.

Fuentes ended the game with an RBI base hit to center field that scored Valery Ramirez for the 3-2 Cougar win.

Top Performers

–  Julia Fuentes – 2-for-4, SB, run, RBI

 – Ashlynn Heck – 1-for-3, BB, SB, run

 – Brianne Tall – 1-for-2, BB, SB

– Allyson Melgar – W, 7 IP, 2 H, 2 R, 5 BB, 3 Ks

Game 2 (15-11 Canyons Victory over Cypress)

The Cougars spotted Cypress a 3-0 lead in the first inning but quickly answered back with four-run outbursts in the home half of the first two innings.

Heck tripled in a run for the first COC run, starting a rally which saw Fuentes, Alyssa Silva and Ramirez all record RBIs.

In the second, Fuentes’ triple brought in Heck to start another rally. Later, Ramirez’ two-run single made it an 8-3 ballgame.

Cypress continued the battle with a three-run third, which was again matched by the Cougars in the bottom of the inning.

Canyons kept up the onslaught with a two-run single from Motz, an RBI-double from Heck and an RBI groundout from Tall to cap the Cougars scoring and put the game at 15-6.

COC surrendered five runs the rest of the way as the Chargers made it a ballgame, but couldn’t come all the way back.

Samantha Flores (1-2) got the win in what was a wild outing. She surrendered nine runs, eight earned, with three strikeouts across five innings. Melgar also saw two innings of work, allowing an earned run for her efforts.

Top Performers

– Lisa Motz – 2-for-5, 2 runs, 2 RBI

– Ashlynn Heck – 4-for-5, 3B, 2B, 4 runs, 2 RBI

– Julia Fuentes – 4-for-5, 3B, 2B, 2 runs, 3 RBI

– Brianne Tall – 2-for-5, 3 runs, 3 RBI

– Alysa Silva – 2-for-3, BB, 2B, SB, run, RBI

– Valery Ramirez – 2-for-3, BB, 2 RBI

Upcoming Schedule

The Cougars will be on the road for a Thursday doubleheader at Moorpark College with games scheduled for noon and 2 p.m. on March 3. Canyons then returns home to host Riverside City College for a home doubleheader on Saturday, March 5 with games once again scheduled to start at noon and 2 p.m.

COC softball home games will be live streamed to fans on YouTube via the Cougars Sports Network. Continue to monitor www.COCathletics.com for livestream links and schedules or subscribe to the COC Athletics channel on YouTube.