Home runs by Samantha Garcia and Samantha Vaaulu were enough to squeak the Cerritos College softball team past rival Long Beach City College, 6-4, on Thursday at Nancy Kelly Field.

The Falcons came out of the gates swinging as a pair of runs were scored in the first and second inning by two run home runs coming off the bats of freshman shortstop Garcia and sophmore catcher Vaaulu to extend their lead to 4-0 to open the game.

“We should have done better, we should have roped this pitcher” stated Vaaulu, who added another hit to go along with her 2-run homer in the game.

The final two runs came in the 4th inning, which started with a walk to sophomore third baseman Brandi Rummel, who would then score on a throwing error off of a bunt down 3rd base by freshman outfielder Rochelle Romero. Freshman outfielder Natalie Garcia then followed with an RBI single up the middle to bring home Romero.

“We hit the ball hard” said Samantha Garcia. “We left too many girls on base today.”

Sophomore outfielder Devin Salmones racked up three walks to go along with the Falcons overall eight hits in the game.

The Falcons are still undefeated in the South Coast Conference with a 5-0 record and an overall season record of 18-3.

Leading 6-0 heading into the 7th inning, the game turned into a nail bitter as Long Beach City was able to put four runs up on the score board off of sophomore pitcher Hillary Perez-Ashley.

With a runner on 2nd base and the tying run coming to the plate, Perez-Ashley was able to get the batter to pop up for the final out to freshman Gabriella Villarreal

“It’s something to learn from,” said Perez-Ashley, who improves her record to 14-0 with the victory.

Before the 7th inning arrived, Perez-Ashley allowed just three hits with only two of them making it out of the infield.

“Long Beach gave themselves an opportunity to win,” said head coach Kodee Murray about her opponents last inning offensive surge. “That’s a typical Long Beach team.”

The Falcons will next face Pasadena City College, who has an overall record of 4-7 and a South Coast conference record of 1-3, on Thursday at 3 p.m. at Nancy Kelly Field.