The Vikings played Cabrillo on Feb. 21, losing 0-9 in the fifth inning. The Diablo Valley College Softball teams current overall record is 4-6, and 1-1 in conference.

DVC began the game on defense with an overthrow to first base, a base hit and a fumble by catcher Hailey O’Rouke giving Cabrillo an early lead with a score of 0-2. Left field Alexis Esparza caught a deep hit, getting the Vikings their first out, after a strike out by pitcher Mariah Schuchart and ending with an out by right field Rebecca Walsh.

Starting the Vikings at bat was Schuchart getting walked. Mari got a powerful hit to center field making it to second base. The inning finished with two flyballs and a strikeout.

“Our motivation just dropped when the other team started to score. We just need to learn to be more focused on and off the field and just believing in ourselves and our teammates knowing we can win even after a hard inning,” said first baseman Kathryn Cassin.

The second inning started with a defensive error by second basemen Avonikah Salas. Short stop Taylar McCullough got two assists and Salas got one assist to third base. At the bottom of the inning, McCullough got out at first, led by two strikeouts after.

The top of third inning saw Esparza get the first out in left field. Center field Hannah Kong missed a high hit to center field but recovered to get DVC’s second out at home. After giving up three hits, Cabrillo got two more runs on the board making the score 0-4. Cabrillo got tagged out on second by substitute second basemen Walsh, getting DVC their third out. Schuchart struck out, led by a bunt by Kwong getting out at first and ending with a caught ball in deep center field hit by third basemen Chelsea Mari.

“What we really need to work on the most as a team is our hitting, it’s our biggest problem right now we just need to be more aggressive at the plate,” said Mari.

The fourth began with two quick outs by McCullough and Walsh. Cabrillo smashed five hits giving them three runs, bringing the score to 0-7. During the bottom of the inning, O’Rouke hit a fly ball to second base getting DVC’s first out. Cassin hit a ground ball making it to first and stealing to second base. Esparza hit high to left field getting their second out. McCullough and Salas were both walked making the bases loaded. Walsh struck out ending the fourth.

According to head Coach Dennis Luquet, “Our biggest problem in today’s game was defense. We also couldn’t hit the ball either though so that didn’t help our situation. We had too many fly balls and too many strike outs. Overall, we just need to play better. We need to make more plays.”

In the final inning, Cabrillo scored two more runs. Schuchart got one strike out, Salas got an assist to second and Esparza caught a deep ball to right field. The bottom of the inning, Schuchart hit to short stop, making the first out. Kwong struck out and Mari hit to third base getting out at first base, ending the game 0-9.

“We have a young team this year, so the mental part and maturity part of the game is hard, because we are not all be on the same page, but we will move forward and keep growing even of its slow,” said Cassin

DVC’s first conference game was Saturday Feb. 23 against Folsom Lake. The Vikings went 1-1 with Folsom.

DVC lost their first game 4-3. Mari got a solo homerun and an RBI. Pitcher Summer Throne allowed nine hits and four runs over six innings, striking out two players and walking one. Esparza leads Vikings in hits going two for two at the plate.

In the second game, the Vikings took home a 6-3 victory over Folsom Lake. DVC began scoring in the second when Esparza hit into a fielder’s choice and brought one run in to score. Walsh singled scoring one run and Schuchart singled, getting another run for the team. Throne allowed nine hits and three runs. Schuchart finished off the pitching for the Vikings in the six-inning getting the last out.

DVC’s next game will be home on Thursday Feb. 28 against Sierra College at 3 p.m.