There was a pitching duel on display at Bakersfield College on Feb. 12 between Jessica Simpson and Annissa Carrender.
The thing about that is they play on the same team.
Simpson started the day off with a complete game three hitter and retired 10 straight batters twice in the first game of a double header as BC (5-2) swept visiting El Camino (2-6).
Simpson allowed three of the first four batters she faced on base and after a meeting at the mound something seemed to change.
“[My teammates] reminded me what happened on the road when a lot of hits were hit off me and I didn’t want a repeat of that, so I just did my best to buckle down,” Simpson said.
Simpson retired 20 of the next 21 batters.
Carrender followed that performance with a complete game three hitter of her own, and at one point retired 12 batters in a row and had five strikeouts.
“After watching Jessica throw the first game I just went out there and hoped I could be as good as her,” Carrender said. “I guess her and I were just in the zone.”
Carrender started off rocky just like Simpson. Two of the first three batters reached base and after those only two more batters from El Camino got on base for the rest of the game.
Catcher Kara Frankhouser and Centerfielder Kaitlin Toerner both had three hits in the second game for the Renegades. First baseman Brandi Church went 3-4 with two doubles with three runs-batted-in on the day.
“I think it helped us that [El Camino] threw the same pitcher to start both games so the second game we knew what she was likely to throw because we talked in the dugout.” Toerner said.
The sweep brings the Renegades home record to 4-0. The other two wins came against San Diego City College on Feb. 4 in a double header.
Brittney Messer ended both games with a walk off single and Danielle Ayler was the winning run on both of Messer’s walk off hits.
The first walk off almost didn’t happen. In the top of the seventh inning the Knights tied it up after Ayler dropped an infield fly ball that kept the inning alive only to be the game-winning run the next inning.
Ayler jokingly said that she dropped the ball on purpose so she could turn around and be a hero at the end.
The end of the second game also included a Knights comeback in the top of the seventh. Ashley Whitmore, who hit a home run in the first game, hit a two run double to go up 4-3. Only for Ayler and Messer to win the game again.
“It was like déjÖ vu, it was kind of weird, but if I saw my pitch I was going to swing no matter what.” Messer said about the second walk off.
It hasn’t all been great for the Renegades in the past week.
They lost the first game of the season on Feb. 8 to Fresno City College (7-2) and two days later lost on a walk off home run to College of Sequoias.
The next home game for the Renegades will be against Oxnard on Feb. 22.