SAN LUIS OBISPO 7 Hancock College/s softball team had a one-run lead on Cuesta going into the bottom of the fifth inning Thursday.

The lead was long gone by the end of the inning. So was the suspense regarding the final outcome.

The Cougars, down by a run going into the last of the fifth, struck for seven runs and won this Western State Conference game 9-2.

Hancock (5-9, 6-17) led 2-1 before the Cougars went on their fifth-inning binge. Cuesta is 12-3, 15-11.

The Bulldogs took a short-lived 2-1 lead on Kerry Malcolm/s RBI double in the fourth. Malcolm had two hits Thursday. Hancock tied the score at 1-1 on Stephanie Silva/s triple.

Lyndsey Gordon/s bases-clearing double capped off Cuesta/s big fifth inning. The Cougars tied the score on Chessie Brehm/s double.

Brehm went to third base on Stephanie Azevedo/s single and then scored the winning run on an errant throw from right field on the play. Azevedo came in on a double by Heather Sanders. Cuesta had six hits off Hancock pitcher Crystal Garcia in the fifth.

Baseball

Hancock 9, Ventura 3

The Bulldogs/ pitching staff was roughed up in its two previous games, losses to Cuesta. Thursday, Adam Campbell, Todd Nelson and Jason Looney combined on a six-hitter as Hancock breezed at home in a WSC North Division game.

Campbell pitched seven innings and improved to 3-1. Leading 4-1, Hancock pulled away with five runs in the seventh.

Marc Verbryke hit a two-run home run in the seventh for the Bulldogs (8-5, 11-8). Eric Bowman hit a three-run double. Jimmy Van Ostrand was 2-for-4.

Hancock plays at 1 p.m. Saturday at Ventura.

Oxnard 7, Cuesta 6

OXNARD 7 St. Joseph graduate Dustin Kelly had three hits for the Cougars (5-8, 7-12), including a solo home run in the fifth, but they came up short in a 10-inning loss.

Wes Pereira was 3-for-4 and drove in four runs for Cuesta. The Cougars led 6-4 going into the last of the ninth, but the Condors scored twice and then won with a run in the 10th.

Cal Poly 5, Hawaii-Hilo 4

KONA, Hawaii 7 Matt Giuliano scored the winning run on Brandon Roberts/ sacrifice fly in the eighth inning as the Mustangs grabbed the victory in the first game of the teams/ doubleheader.

Regulation for the opener was seven innings. The result of the second game was unavailable at press time.

Dennis LeDuc pitched the last three innings in relief for Cal Poly and earned the win. Chalon Tietje went 2-for-3 for the Mustangs and hit a two-run home run in the first inning.

Women/s tennis

Hancock 9, Ventura 0

VENTURA 7 Lori Valadez and Carlene Holst did not lose a game, and the rest of the Bulldogs/ singles players won about as convincingly.

Monica Krier, Clairol Lozano, Carly Barnett and Amanda Urias dropped just 12 games between them as Hancock improved to 10-1 in the WSC and 11-2 overall. Ventura is 1-9, 3-9.

If the Bulldogs defeat Bakersfield today at home in their regular season finale, Hancock clinches its second straight WSC co-title and a second consecutive trip to the Regionals. The match today is at 2 p.m.

The Bulldogs/ doubles teams of Valadez-Holst, Krier-Lozano and Barnett-Urias lost a total of five games.

Men/s tennis

Ventura 9, Hancock 0

A tough season for the Hancock men (1-8, 1-10) got tougher Thursday. Davis Best, the Bulldogs/ No. 1 singles player, had to retire after five games of his singles match because of back pain.

Lewis Smith of Hancock lost 6-1, 6-3 to Dusty Kemkk at No. 2 singles. Smith won the most games of any Bulldog. Ventura (9-0, 12-1) is ranked among the top five junior college teams in California.

April 2, 2004