Pirates open Central Valley Conference play with 6-5 win at Taft

Porterville College freshman Auzia Mosley went 3 for 4 with 3 RBI and the Pirates were able to hold off a late Taft College rally to hang on for a 6-5 win on the road in both teams' Central Valley Conference opener on Thursday.

With the win, Porterville improved to 9-4 overall and 1-0 in the CVC while Taft fell to 7-12 and 0-1.

The Pirates opened the scoring, putting together three hits to score the game's first run. Mosley came through with a two-out single to drive in Nicole Nakinishi to give Porterville an early 1-0 lead.

That lead didn't last long. With two outs in the bottom of the first, Taft's Allie Dobbs smacked her state-leading eighth home run of the season to tie up the ball game.

Porterville went back out in front, scoring a pair of runs in the top of the third. Annisa Gomez doubled home Chelsea Ramos and Mosley followed with a double as well to drive in Gomez to put the Pirates back out in front.

The Pirates put up another run in the fifth thanks to a RBI single by Kuea Angilau and scored twice in the sixth after a Taft error and run scoring single by Mosley.

With Porterville leading 6-3, Taft rallied for two runs in the bottom of the seventh, but Ashley Eyraud was able to escape the inning for the complete-game win. Eyraud allowed three earned runs and six hits

Gomez went a perfect 3 for 3 with a RBI and two runs for the Pirates while Ramos (2 for 4, 2 R) and Ashley Rojo (2 for 4) each had two hits.

Porterville returns to CVC action on Tuesday (Mar. 12) when the Pirates host Fresno City College in a doubleheader, starting at 1 p.m.