Warriors Secure Conference Title and 23rd Straight Win, Edging Long Beach City

TORRANCE, Calif. – For the third time in school history, El Camino College can call itself South Coast Conference champions. The No. 5 Warriors captured the SCC-South Division title with a 3-1 victory over Long Beach City Tuesday afternoon at the ECC Softball Field.

The Warriors (32-5, 10-0) snagged their second SCC title in the past three seasons as Haley Reed tossed a gem in the circle for ECC. She picked up her 15th win of the season as she tossed seven innings and allowed just one run, stranding 10 Vikings (20-17, 5-4) on the bases.

Despite being outhit on the day, the Warriors managed to put up a three-spot in the third inning and Reed made it stand up. Raelani Camez led the ECC offense as she was the only player to notch a multi-hit game on the day for the Warriors, going 2-for-3 with a run scored. Julianne Adamos was 1-for-3 with an RBI and Brigid Antonelli was 1-for-2 with two RBIs.

Annisa Hamilton took the loss for the Vikings despite a solid effort. She tossed a complete game and allowed three runs on six hits. She walked three and struck out two.

Both pitchers shook off a few baserunners in the first two-and-a-half innings before the Warriors got themselves on the board in the bottom of the third. Camez led off the inning with a single to right field and then, with one out, swiped one of her two stolen bases on the day as she took second. Adamos then singled up the middle to bring in Camez and give the Warriors the 1-0 lead.

The Warriors were not done in the inning though as Alyssa Wing sacrificed pinch-runner Ronni Silas over to second base. Silas then stole third and Haley Reed walked to put runners on the corners. Reed then stole second, one of her two stolen bases on the day.

Hamilton then walked Kamryn Fisher to load the bases for Antonelli, who came through with a single to left-center field to drive in Reed and Silas and put the Warriors up 3-0. The Warriors tried to steal a run on the ensuing play as Antonelli took off for second to draw a throw. Fisher bolted for home on the throw to second and shortstop Amanda McCalip threw her out to end the frame. ECC scored all of its runs and tallied half of its hits in the frame.

After Reed stranded a pair of base runners in the fourth, the Vikings got themselves on the scoreboard in the fifth inning to trim the deficit. Samantha Ontiveros doubled to right center with one out and then Alijah Vega singled to left-center to advance pinch-runner Faith Hernandez over to third. Denise Flores then hit an RBI groundout to score Hernandez and make it 3-1.

Alissa Cienfuegos followed with a single up the middle and then Daisy Velasquez singled to left to load the bases with two outs for the Vikings, but Reed got McCalip to ground out to short for the final out of the frame and help the Warriors escape the inning by surrendering just one run.

The Vikings had one more chance to tie the score in the sixth, getting runners on second and third with two outs but Reed got Vega to fly out to left field to end the threat.

Reed would close the door on the victory in the seventh, getting two quick outs and then inducing a fielder's choice groundout to short after a hit batter to give the Warriors the win and their third conference title in program history.

The Warriors will be off until Saturday afternoon when they hit the road for a big game against No. 1 Cypress, the only undefeated team in the state and the only squad with a longer winning streak (35) than the Warriors' current 23-game streak this season. First pitch is set for 1 p.m.