Warriors Capitalize on Riverside Mistakes to Take Game One

TORRANCE, Calif. – El Camino College capitalized on four Riverside errors and a number of other miscues overcome a late deficit and score a 9-4 victory over the Tigers in game one of their California Community College Softball Southern California Regional matchup Friday afternoon at the ECC Softball Field.

The Warriors (35-6) scored four unearned runs and five runs without the benefit of an RBI to take a 1-0 series lead over the Tigers (18-21) in their best-of-three series. Eight different Warriors collected a hit and ECC dominated the base paths with six stolen bases to score the victory in game one.

Brooke Sarro picked up the win in the circle for ECC, tossing three innings of scoreless relief. She allowed just two hits and struck out three.

The Warriors jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first inning as Raelani Camez led off with a walk and then stole second. Ashley Machado followed with a single to right field to bring in Camez and put the Warriors on the board early.

Julianne Adamos then singled to the pitcher to put runners on first and second and then Machado took third on a wild pitch. The Warriors catcher would come in to make it 2-0 on an error and then, with two outs, Kamryn Fisher singled in Adamos to put the Warriors up by three early.

But the Tigers roared back in the second as Laura Mendez singled to left field to score Marcelina Arevalo and then Kailee Gilbert blasted a double to left-center to drive in a pair and tie the score, 3-3.

It stayed that way until the fifth when the underdog Tigers took the lead. Emily Wilcox led off with a single, putting an end to Haley Reed's day in the circle. Sarro stepped in and allowed a double to Aeriel Carlson to put runners on second and third.

One out later, A'loni Appleton singled to right to score Wilcox and put the Tigers up, 4-3. After a fielder's choice put runners on the corners, Sarro recovered to strike out Laura Mendez and Megan Cartwright to end the frame and limit the damage.

That proved crucial as the Warriors would answer in their half of the fifth, scoring on an error as short off the bat of Alyssa Wing, allowing Camez to come in with the tying run with two outs in the inning.

The Warriors then opened the floodgates in the sixth, scoring two runs on wild pitches and one on a throwing error.

Kassandra Hernandez started things off with a one-out walk. Pinch-runner Aleah Lacy advanced on a bunt single by Kattya Calderon, drawing a pitching change from Riverside. Camez grounded out to first, advancing the runners into scoring position. Lacy scored the go-ahead run on a wild pitch from Synphony Hall and then Calderon scored on another wild pitch.

Machado kept the inning going with a walk and then stole both second and third base. Adamos walked to put runners at the corners and then Wing came through with a double. Machado scored and then pinch-runner Karla Calderon scored on an error to make it 8-4. Wing advanced to third and then scored on a single by Reed to cap off the scoring for the Warriors.

Sarro took care of business in the seventh, retiring the side in order to secure the victory for the Warriors and put ECC on the verge of advancing.

The teams will play game two of their series at noon on Saturday afternoon with a winner-take-all game three set for 2 p.m. if necessary.