Rio Hondo’s softball team had a tough game, as they unfortunately could not keep up with the Lady Monarchs of Los Angeles Valley losing 12-3 in five innings.

The now 3-6 Lady Roadrunners have lost their last four out of five games coming into this game, with a win last coming against San Diego City at the start of February.

With the recent struggles of the team early on in the season, Head Coach Bianca Urquidi remains positive throughout their losing streak and has stressed to her team about making progress and how the more progress they can make will only make them better, so long as they are better than the day before.

Of course their progress was halted by the Lady Monarchs however as they came out hot, scoring six runs in the first inning and never looked back.

Three errors combined from Sophomore players Esthefany Martinez and Elaine Verdugo gave the Lady Monarchs opportunities to score in which they took advantage of. 

While Rio Hondo was struggling to get something on the board, Los Angeles Valley came up with five more runs in the third inning making it an 11-0 game which all but sealed the victory for them.

In the fifth inning the Lady Roadrunners came out with some offense as Verdugo, Nadiya Lozano and Mylene Valencia all had RBI singles making it a 12-3 game after Los Angeles Valley had scored a run at the top of the inning.

After the game, Urquidi talked about the teams performance and mentioned that they are battling through a couple of injuries with some of her players and had to retool the lineup. It is always unfortunate to have to readjust your lineup due to injuries. But it is sadly a part of the game.

The Rio Hondo softball team had made the playoffs last season, having one of their best seasons in recent history, as they were co-champions of the Foothill Conference.

Departures of key players from last season might have them looking for answers early on, but Urquidi says there is no real correlation with last season to this new season. Every season is brand new with a new crop of student athletes and it’s just a matter of time before they get used to the new system along with the new competition.

Urquidi remains positive though, saying of her players and the season, “Everything’s looking like the way it’s supposed to be looking as we go on, so long as we get better than we were the day before, we’re where we’re supposed to be.”

The Rio Hondo Softball team will now embark on a three game road trip as they face Cerritos on Feb 19 and a doubleheader against Mt. San Jacinto and Antelope Valley on Feb 20. The Lady Roadrunners will not have a home game until Feb. 24 against Pasadena City.