A line drive shot off the bat of Diablo Valley College’s Amber Golini that deflected off the glove of American River College second baseman Lolli Conway helped jump start a four-run seventh inning that propelled DVC to a a 7-3 win Tuesday.

Two runs scored on the play before a two-run homer by Cynthia Duenas extended the lead to four.

Runners were on the corners for Golini as she faced ARC starter Sharie Albert (11-9, 4.38 ERA), with DVC left fielder Julia Pelletier scoring the go-ahead run easily from third base and shortstop Ashley Allen coming around from first after ARC had trouble getting the ball back to the infield.

“(It was) hard hit and just kept elevating, kept getting higher and higher,” said Conway of Golini’s hit.

Added Conway: “I didn’t expect to (not make the catch), but I could tell it was getting higher and the home run doesn’t make it any better.”

ARC head coach Lisa Delgado agreed with Conway on the difficulty of the play, and said it was not routine by any means.

“It climbed like right when it got to her,” she said. “(I’m) more upset with we’re not hitting well with runners in scoring position. Leaving lots of runners on.”

In the bottom frame, center fielder Stephanie Scott led off with a hit that appeared to land in fair territory on the left field chalk, but was called foul by the home plate umpire.

Assistant coach Darin Delgado, who is also the team’s third base coach, jumped at the call and proceeded to argue with the umpire.

“Oh absolutely,” he said when asked if the ball was fair or not.

Scott ended up grounding out, and ARC went down quickly with its next two batters.

“That was a tough call,” Darin said. “Had a few tough calls during the game, but that’s not what ultimately cost us.”

Scott said she didn’t see the ball land as she was running toward first base.

Albert went the distance in the loss, impressing her head coach in giving up three runs on eight hits before the seventh inning.

“She was strong I thought,” said Lisa. “They’re a really good hitting team, we just kind of kept them at bay for six innings.”

Added Lisa: “The girl who smoked that ball at (Conway) was hitting .500 in 78 at-bats.”

Neither Conway or Lisa thought Albert was affected by DVC taking the lead late.

“I think she got a little frustrated, but I don’t think it affected her (because) she was still in the game,” said Conway.

ARC managed just six hits in the game, scoring once each in the second through fourth innings.

Cindy Van Bogart hit an RBI single up the middle in the second off DVC starter Nicole Nordahl (13-2, 2.56 ERA), a run scored on an error in the third and ARC took a 3-2 lead in the fourth on a sacrifice fly by Scott that scored left fielder Emily Butcoff.

Lisa said the team’s primary concern right now is not leaving so many runners stranded.

“We’re just not stringing our hits together, no timely hits,” she said.

Added Lisa: “We’re working on it, we’ll be ready for Modesto on Saturday.”