Coming off a loss Saturday against Sierra College, the Cosumnes River softball team took the field at home against struggling Modesto Junior College on April 10 in Big 8 Conference play.

The clubs’ ace, Sophomore pitcer Allison Barsetti took the mound for CRC to battle Modesto’s Roxy Corella. Barsetti started off shaky, allowing a leadoff walk to center fielder Madalyn Adams in the top of the first inning which resulted in Adams scoring later in the inning putting Modesto up 1-0.

“Our energy level was a bit low,” said head coach Kristy Schroeder. “Especially on tuesday’s we got to find a way to get ourselves a little bit more excited.”

The team showed signs of that energy when they came to bat in the bottom of the first inning to tie the game at 1-1, but it quickly evaporated as they went scoreless the next three innings, in large part to Corella’s pitching who struck out the side in third.

Coach Schroeder praised Corella.

“I thought she (Corella) did start off very strong and then she kinda fell apart a little bit but she had some good innings,” said Schroeder. “There were a couple innings where she walked quite a few and then kinda came back and struck out the side. She’s a good pitcher.”

The score remained 1-1 until the bottom of the fifth inning, when freshman Jessica Venturelli hit a two out, two run triple to right field putting the Hawks’ up 3-1.

“I just wanted basically a line drive or just a hit so we could at least score one run, but it ended up being a triple,” said Venturelli. “So that was pretty nice.”

Not to be outdone by Corella, Barsetti threw a good game of her own. After allowing one run in the first inning, Barsetti settled down and didn’t allow another run until the sixth inning, when infielder Leah Layman hit an RBI single making the score 3-2 bringing Modesto within one run.

Modesto failed to capitalize with the bases loaded in the sixth that could have tied the game or put them ahead but Barsetti was able to get out of the jam with a groundout to end the inning.

“I think she (Barsetti) did really good,” Venturelli said. “She kept them off balance and her changeup looked pretty good.”

Next up for the Hawks’ is a Sophomore Day double header with rival Sacramento City on Saturday April 13 as they continue their playoff push.

“We’re in the hunt,” Schroeder said.