Fighting for one of the 18 coveted Southern California Regional Playoff spots, the Cerritos College softball team suffered a 7-3 loss in its final South Coast Conference game against El Camino College at Nancy Kelly Field on Tuesday, Apr. 23.
Facing the conference champion Warriors, 34-6, 20-2, the Falcons took 1-0 and 2-1 leads before watching, El Camino scored three times in the sixth and seventh innings to record the win.
In the bottom of the first inning, Cerritos took a 1-0 lead thanks to a double from shortstop No. 9 Tena Spoolstra which led to center field No. 45 Haley Davis to score.
The second inning was scoreless, however, the Falcons had a 1-0 lead. In the top of the third inning, the El Camino Warriors equalized with a third baseman No. 10 Diamond Lewis scored a solo home run.
The fourth inning was scoreless, until the bottom of the fifth inning. Cerritos took the lead again thanks to catcher No. 12 Deja Sendejas singled to center field and left field No. 36 Itzel Soto scored.
In the top of the sixth inning, the Warriors tied and took the lead thanks to a double from second baseman No. 6 Brooklyn Araujo which Infielder No. 14 Alena de la Torre scored to even the score 2-2.
The third and fourth run were scored thanks to outfielder No. 16 Belle Estrada who advanced to third base after a throwing error from first baseman No. 27 Keira Bolinas; Araujo and Estrada scored.
In the top of the seventh inning, El Camino scored their fifth run thanks to a single from infielder No. 15 Mina Nakawake and advanced to second meanwhile de la Torre scored.
Araujo and Nakawake scored after a 2-run home run into center field. The Warriors lead 7-2. In the bottom of the seventh inning, the Falcons would score their third run thanks to Sendejas who lined out to the right field, Soto scored.
Head Coach Kodee Murray, when asked on the team’s performance, said, “We had a really good first five innings were we gave up only one run. However our lead slipped out of our hands in the sixth inning with an error from Bolinas, hats off to El Camino who played great softball and won the South Coast Conference championship.”
When questioned on the improvement of the team Murray stated, “We need to improve on pitching and getting those outs early in the inning so we don’t have a lead slip out of our hands. If we do make the playoffs we want to win as many games we can win so we can play for the championship. In the playoffs it is simple; if we win we go big and move on, if we lose we go home.”
The Falcons had one more regular season game remaining following the loss against El Camino College, the team traveled to Grossmont College for a 3:00 p.m. non-conference game on Wednesday, April 24 and won 12-2.
