On Friday, March 21, the Moorpark Raiders Softball team returned home to welcome the Santa Monica Corsairs after six road games in a row. Coming into this game, the Raiders had not hosted on their home field in almost an entire month. They were also fresh off a shutout loss and looking to make a strong statement in front of the home crowd.
On the mound for the Raiders was a freshman from Newbury Park High School, Kailey Greene. Greene, usually an infielder, was making her fourth pitching appearance of the season. She had last pitched at the end of February when she fired a scoreless inning against Citrus College.
Her outing got off to a rocky start when she walked the first batter of the inning, who was knocked in by an RBI single two batters later. However, she was able to settle in and record two flyouts in a row to get out of the inning with only a 1-0 deficit on the scoreboard.
The Raiders looked to be off to another slow start when their first two batters grounded out in the bottom of the first inning. This would all change after Mia Gregory reached on an infield single that brought Kylie Kolkowski up to the plate.
For good reason, Kolkowski, a sophomore catcher from Thousand Oaks High School, was hitting in the cleanup spot. She leads the team in hits, runs batted in, average, on-base percentage and slugging. She was looking to deliver a big moment early in this game.
At first, it looked like Santa Monica would get out of the inning when Kolkowski hit a ball high in deep left field. The ball was playable for the left fielder but dropped. This allowed Gregory to score from first, which tied the game, as Kolkowski rolled into second base with yet another RBI.
Kolkowski has been a force with runners on base all season long, and she shared her mindset when she comes to the box in that situation.
“They did their job by getting on so I need to finish the job by scoring them,” Kolkowski said.
Batting next was Greene, who used Kolkowski’s mindset to drive in another run, making the score 2-1 in favor of the Raiders. Moorpark could not push any more runs in this inning, but the tone had been set.
After Greene walked the first batter she faced in the second inning, sophomore ace pitcher Amanda Smith entered in relief. Smith wasted no time striking out all three batters she faced to retire the side. When asked about her success on the mound, Smith credited battery mate Kolkowski.
“I knew Kylie had my back behind the plate, and I just know working with her, I can get my pitches down,” Smith said.
The innings that followed were more of the same. The Raiders would score 14 more runs, while Smith finished her outing with five strikeouts over three hitless, scoreless innings.
After Greene came back in to pitch a scoreless top of the fifth inning, the game was called with a final score of 16-1 in favor of the home Raiders. This win gave the Raiders their 10th win of the season as they moved to 3-2 in conference play.
In a postgame interview, Head Coach Delaney Diaz gave her thoughts on the bounce-back win.
“It feels great. I’m glad we’re back on track. We got a new game plan, so I’m glad the girls did what they’re supposed to do and did their job,” Diaz said.
Following this game, the Raiders swept Southwestern in a home doubleheader on Saturday, March 22, to move to 12-8. The Raiders then had a conference battle at home with the Santa Barbara Vaqueros on Tuesday, March 25, which resulted in a loss.
The Raiders made up for this loss with a 10-0 win against rival Oxnard College on March 26. The team’s momentum continued after beating Cuesta College 4-0 on April 1.
To learn more about the Moorpark Raiders Softball team and their upcoming schedule, click here.
