Softball Falls in Super Regional Opener to Santiago Canyon

TORRANCE, Calif. – No. 4 El Camino College stumbled in the opening game of the California Community College Softball Super Regionals, falling to No. 5 Santiago Canyon 3-0 Friday afternoon at the ECC Softball Field.

The Warriors (33-10) were blanked for just the third time this season and managed only four hits on the day while the Hawks (33-11) used a big third inning and solid outing by starting pitcher Nicole Yniguez to take the 1-0 lead in the best-of-three series.

Ashley Machado, Santa Iontchevska, Kassidy Robinson and Jasmine Krauss all had singles for the Warriors but ECC had just three runners advance to second base or better on the day.

The Warriors had a hard time solving Yniguez, who tossed a complete-game shutout as she scattered four hits, walked two and struck out three.

Offensively, the Hawks did their damage in the third inning off Warriors starter Maisie Weishoff. Rylie Seip started things off with a leadoff homerun to straightaway center to make it 1-0. The Hawks added a pair of singles to put runners on second and third with two outs. Catcher McKenna Boyle singled to left center to drive in another run and then Amber Reinke singled to center to plate the third run and the Hawks never looked back.

The teams will meet again Saturday at noon at the ECC Softball Field with the Warriors as the home team. A win by the Warriors would force a winner-take-all game three at approximately 2 p.m. while a win for the Hawks would clinch their second trip to the CCCAA State Championships in the past three seasons.