No. 10 Softball Opens Conference Title Defense at Home on Thursday Against Ventura

The softball team opens defense of its Western State Conference title on its home field this week. The Bulldogs host Ventura College on Thursday in their conference opener at 2:30 p.m. It will be Hancock's first home game in nearly one month.  Hancock was ranked 10^th in last week's Southern California Regional Coaches Poll.

Hancock enters the week on a seven game winning streak and 9-2-1 overall. The Bulldogs won two road games last weekend, an 8-0 win at LA Valley and a 5-1 victory at Citrus, the ninth ranked team in the Southern California Region and a squad that just upset top ranked Mt. SAC earlier in the week. Katie Chenault slugged a home run and struck out eight Owls in the win over Citrus. Judith Salazar had two hits and 2 RBI. Missy Regalado, Michaela Valencia, Jessica Rothanzl, and Ashley Ruiz each collected two hits. During the 8-0 win in five innings at LA Valley, Chenault struck out 12, Megan Love had two RBI, and catcher Teanna Silveira had a double and a triple.

The Bulldogs were scheduled to play at Bakersfield on Tuesday, March 3. However, the game was canceled on Monday due to the weather and field conditions and rescheduled for April 10.

Ventura enters conference 5-11 overall. The Pirates are led by freshman shortstop Brittany Perez who is hitting .545 with five home runs and 18 RBI.

Hancock's top producers at the plate are Rothanzl (.545, 2 home runs, 13 RBI), Valencia (2 home runs, 9 RBI and nine stolen bases) and Salazar (12 RBI, .333). Chenault leads the state with 107 strikeouts over 71 2/3 innings.