Santa Ana, Cypress Win in Regional

Cypress and Santa Ana each won twice in Saturday’s community college softball regional and moved to within one victory of a state tournament berth.

Santa Ana posted two one-run victories at Fullerton College, defeating Bakersfield, 1-0, then second-seeded Fullerton, 5-4.

Santa Ana trailed, 3-1, in the sixth, but scored on Veronica Vargas’ run-scoring double and claimed the lead on Elaine Elsesser’s two-run single.

Against Bakersfield (24-16), Santa Ana (28-14) made a first-inning run stand up as Wendi Kralich retired 16 of the last 17 batters.

Fullerton (38-7) defeated Grossmont (20-13) in the first round, 1-0. Crystal Aguirre’s RBI single scored winning pitcher Erin Kelly (27-4), who retired the first 15 in a two-hitter with seven strikeouts.

Fullerton plays the Grossmont-Bakersfield winner today at noon, with the winner advancing to play Santa Ana at 2 p.m. for a state tournament berth.

At Cypress:

Cypress wins twice--Catcher Heidi Lockwood had three hits and three RBIs and Koral King and Yvette Martinez each had two hits and two RBIs for Cypress in a 10-2 victory over Canyons (38-6) in the winners’ bracket final.

In the first round, King had three doubles, a single, three RBIs and scored two runs for Cypress (31-13-2) in a 5-1 victory over Pasadena.