Survive and Advance: Pirates edge Eagles , 2-1

COSTA MESA -- The Orange Coast College softball team earned a trip to the next round and Mt. San Jacinto made them EARN every bit of it as the Pirates hung on for a 2-1, eight-inning win over the Eagles on Saturday to win the opening round of the Southern California Regional Playoffs.

The hard-fought win puts the top-seeded Pirates (30-7) into the Super Regionals, where they will face No. 8-seeded Fullerton College in a best-of-three series beginning on Friday at 2 p.m. at the OCC Softball Stadium. 

Saturday's nail-biter was a far cry from Friday's blowout win (9-1 in six innings) as Eagles' starter Ellianna Pasley went pitch-for-pitch with OCC starter Ruby Fidge. 

After four scoreless innings, the Pirates found some offense in the top of the fifth as the "designated visitors" for Game 2. A leadoff double off the bat of Reyna Hernandez got things going and a sacrifice bunt by Myia Rodriguez moved her teammate over to third. Two batters later, Olivia Pedraza came through with a sharp single to right, scoring Hernandez and putting the Pirates up 1-0.

Fidge was cruising through the first five innings but in the bottom of the sixth, a walk, an error and a double-steal put runners on second and third with nobody out. Natalie Juarez tied the game with a single to right and ended the afternoon for Fidge. The sophomore standout held MSJC to just two hits and one run over five-plus innings. 

Reliever Kelsey McNair came in and did amazing work to hold the Eagles off the scoreboard the rest of the inning. She struck out her first batter, coaxed a harmless infield fly for the second out and struck out the next batter to strand MSJC's go-ahead run at third.

After a scoreless seventh for both teams, the Pirates regained the lead when Kayla Vargas launched a one-out solo home run over the left-field fence, putting Coast ahead 2-1.

McNair didn't make things easy in the bottom of the seventh, walking the first two batters of the frame. A pop out on a bunt attempt gave Coast its first out, but an Eagle double-steal put the tying and winning runners in scoring position with just one out. 

The Pirate closer clutched up and struck out the next Eagle batter for the second out, but a third walk in the inning loaded the bases. 

Finally, McNair got pinch-hitter Trista Clarke to fly out to right, ending the threat and improving her record to 5-0. Her three walks were the lone baserunners allowed over three stellar innings of relief to go along with five strikeouts.

After a rough outing on Friday, Pasley was stellar for the Eagles, allowing two runs on five hits with a pair of strikeouts over eight innings of work, but takes the tough loss to drop to 15-5. 

Pedraza (2-for-4, one RBI) and Vargas (2-4, one run, one RBI) earned multiple hits against Pasley.