Softball Downs Long Beach at Home

TORRANCE, Calif. – El Camino College capitalized on errors and then held on to take down Long Beach 6-4 in a South Coast Conference tilt Tuesday afternoon at the ECC Softball Field.

The Warriors (7-3, 5-1) only tallied four hits on the day but used some heads-up base running and also made the Vikings pay for their two errors, allowing ECC to get runners in prime position to score.

Kassidy Robinson went 1-for-1 with a single but had two sacrifice flies to plate two of the team's runs while Mina Nakawake and Brooklyn Araujo each had RBI hits.

Araujo's RBI triple in the second inning gave the Warriors a 2-1 advantage, a lead they would never relinquish.

Laura Chafe picked up her second victory of the season in the circle. She allowed just one earned run on six hits in 5 and 1/3 innings of work. Elizabeth Cortez came in and picked up the last five outs to record her first save of the year.

For the Vikings, Jade Wittman went 3-for-3 to lead the offense. Noelany Benitez tossed four innings and picked up the loss after surrendering four runs on four hits and three walks.

The Warriors actually trailed to start things off as the Vikings scored a run in the top of the first. But in the second, the Warriors erased the deficit as Sidra Montoya hit a bunt single in between the pitcher and a diving first baseman. Robinson, who started the play at second base, never stopped running and beat the throw to the plate to tie things up 1-1.

Araujo then stepped up and blasted a triple to the right-field fence to score Montoya and put the Warriors ahead by a run.

The team would go on to tack on four runs in the inning to lead by three.

After the Warriors added a run in the third and fifth innings, the Vikings caught a break in the sixth. Long Beach put two runners on base with one out and Maria Aguilar stepped up to the dish. She would single through the infield and the Vikings had the bases loaded for a split second.

But the bags cleared when Amie Crawford's seemingly routine throw to second missed everyone and rolled all the way to the wall, allowing all three runners to score and make it a 6-4 game.

Cortez came in to relieve Chafe after the fluke play and proceeded to retire five straight batters to close things out and give the Warriors the victory.

The team will have Wednesday off before resuming play on Thursday with a road game at Rio Hondo. First pitch is set for 3 p.m.