Cerritos College center fielder Joanna Perruccio broke the school record for most stolen bases, in the second inning, of the 13-5 victory over East Los Angeles College

Head coach Kodee Murray said, “We are very fortunate to have [Joanna] playing. [She] was an All-American last year with base-stealing and her playing the field, so she’s on the road to going back to being able to do that again.”

With the Falcons down 2-1 in the second inning, Perruccio singled to left, bringing in left fielder Jasmine Javier and tying the game at two.

With two outs and third baseman Crystal Cano at the plate, Perruccio successfully stole the 49th base of her career, breaking Capree Williams’ record set in 2008.

Perruccio later scored after ELAC failed to catch shortstop Jenny Collazo’s infield pop-up.

Cerritos scored twice more in the inning after first baseman Haley Petruccelli’s double, putting the Falcons ahead at 5-2.

The Athletics were quick to catch up in the third inning, taking advantage of miscommunication between the Cerritos outfield.

ELAC had runners in scoring position with one out when designated hitter Claudia Zurita’s single hit off the foot of pitcher Jennifer Navarro. One run came in for the Athletics, followed by another, inching them closer to the Falcons at 5-4.

Catcher Krystal Purkey immediately gave the Falcons more relief and led off the bottom of the third inning with a home run.

Things were quiet until the bottom of the fifth inning when Cerritos unleashed five runs.

Cano was at the plate with two outs, bases loaded and hit her fourth home run of the season, stretching the Falcons comfortable lead at 10-4.

Navarro later earned an RBI after her single scored Collazo and ending the fifth inning with a score of 11-4.

ELAC then scored one run, but it was not nearly enough as the Falcons scored two more, winning the game in six innings.

“East LA was a very good team. We did not play very good softball today,” Murray said. “It was pretty much an ugly game, but I’m just thankful our bats stayed alive and Crystal Cano’s grand slam was a real boost to our team, but all of our team hit the ball extremely well.”

Cano said, “We’re taking one game at a time and we just have to remind ourselves what an amazing team we are. We can’t get comfortable with where we are now, we have to continue improving on our weaknesses and we’ll be unstoppable.”