No. 5 Warriors Blank No. 12 San Diego Mesa in Opening Game of Playoffs

TORRANCE, Calif. --- No. 5 El Camino College defeated No. 12 San Diego Mesa, 3-0, in game one of the 3C2A Southern California Regional Playoffs on Friday afternoon at the ECC Softball Field.

Sophomore Lexi Ramirez was stellar in the circle and the Warriors scored used a three-run third inning to take a 1-0 series lead.

Emma Garcia, Lilly Lewis, Anahi Pintado and Jackie Ordonez all had two hits on the day with Garcia, Savanna Kastigar and Ramirez providing the RBIs.

Both offenses were held relatively quiet in the first two innings but the Warriors broke through in the third as Ordonez led off with a single to right field. Cheyenne Navarro sacrificed Ordonez to second and then Garcia made it 1-0 for ECC on a triple to right field.

Kastigar then followed with a triple of her own to right-center to bring in Garcia and make it 2-0. Lewis then hit a grounder to short and Kastigar make a slight break for home. The throw came to the plate and Kastigar retreated safely back to first while Lewis advanced all the way to second.

Ramirez then stepped up and hit a sacrifice fly to left, allowing Kastigar to score. Lewis tried to take third on an errant throw but was thrown out at third to end the inning.

It was plenty of offense for Ramirez, who did not allow a hit until the fourth inning with two outs. The Olympians did not get a runner to second base until the fifth inning but they did mount one last rally in the seventh.

Faith Balestreri led off with a double to left-center and then, with one out, Marissa Lieras singled to left to bring the potential tying run to the plate.

But Ramirez closed the door on any rally, getting a weak groundout back to the circle and then logging her ninth strikeout of the game to secure the game one win.

The teams will return to action on Saturday afternoon for game two of the series at noon. The Olympians will be the designated home team. Should the Olympians win and tie the series, a deciding third game will be played 30 minutes after the conclusion of game two.

The team that emerges victorious on Saturday will then face the winner of the No. 4 Long Beach, No. 13 Bakersfield series. The Vikings took game one of the series, 2-0, on Friday.