San Juan Capistrano, CA — The @jserra.softball team extended its undefeated streak to five straight to start the season on Friday, as the Lions took down the El Modena Vanguards 3-0 in a nonleague showdown at JSerra Catholic High School. In a match-up of two of the top three ranked teams in Orange County, the Lions and Vanguards went toe-to-toe in a tight, scoreless battle through the first four innings. Lions senior pitcher Liliana Escobar continued her dominant start to the year, not allowing a hit and striking out seven batters into the fifth inning. The Lions finally broke through on the scoreboard in the bottom of the fifth. Sophomore Annabel Raftery started the rally by reaching first base on a Vanguards error with one out. Freshman Ava Born fell behind in the count 1-2, but promptly slapped a line drive down the left field line for an RBI double that scored junior Anneke Lukowski (who pitch-ran for Raftery) to give the Lions a 1-0 lead. Freshman Magenta De Arte followed with an infield single to put runners on the corner and then moved into scoring position with a stolen base. Junior Brooklyn Lamb followed with a ground ball to second base that was mishandled and resulted in both Born and De Arte scoring to extend the Lions lead to three runs. El Modena strung together its’ first three hits of the game in succession in the top of the sixth inning to load the bases with one out. But Escobar induced a groundball double play to escape the jam and keep the Vanguards off the scoreboard. She then put the finishing touches on her complete game shutout in the seventh inning, finishing the win with 10 strikeouts. In 22 innings pitched so far this season, Escobar has not allowed an earned run, while striking out 39 batters. #lionnation #jserrasoftball #jserraathletics