Bulldog softball team wins two straight games

For only the second time this season, Folsom High's varsity softball team has put together a two-game win streak. The Bulldogs followed up a 12-8 win over St. Francis last Friday with a 5-3 non-league victory over Franklin on Monday. The wins improved the team's overall record to 6-12, while the team is 2-7 in the Sierra Foothill League. In the win over St. Francis, Folsom took an 8-0 lead before St. Francis came back with seven runs in the fourth, fifth and sixth innings to make it a 9-7 game. The Bulldogs clinched the game with three runs in the top of the seventh inning with runs scoring on a hit by pitch, a passed ball and RBI single from Raygan Mercado. Mercado had a big game, as she had three hits and drove in four. Brooklyn Jackson hit a two-run home run in the first inning, while Sophie Green hit a solo shot in the fourth. Green ended with three RBIs, while Mariah Wilson had two hits in the game. Jackson was the hero in Monday's win over Franklin, as she hit a three-run home run in the top of the seventh inning, turning a 3-2 deficit into a 5-3 win. Jackson also drove in a run in the fifth inning, as she knocked in four of the team's five runs. Folsom only had three hits in the game, but they were big ones: Jackson's three-run homer and Mercado's RBI double in the third inning. Tori Iredell singled in the seventh inning and scored on Jackson's home run. Mercado pitched the first six innings, while Jackson came in to throw the seventh. Franklin had the game-winning run at the plate when Jackson got a Franklin hitter to hit into a double play, as Iredell caught a line drive at second base and threw to Green at first to end the game. "We played well in both games," Folsom coach Sheena Jackson said. "We came out doing great against St. Francis before we let them back in the game. We competed strongly and have had some great offensive performances from Brooklyn, Sophie and Raygan. Our pitching has been strong and we've played great defense." The Bulldogs have games scheduled for Wednesday at home against Rocklin and at Granite Bay on Friday. "Of our losses, nine have come by three runs or less and we haven't played a bad team," Jackson said. "If a couple of breaks go our way, we could have been on the other end of a lot of those games."