Ramirez, Kastigar Lead Warriors to Game One Victory at Long Beach

LONG BEACH, Calif. --- No. 5 El Camino College took an early lead and never looked back with a 3-2 victory over No. 4 Long Beach in game one of the 3C2A SoCal Regionals Second Round on Friday afternoon at Vikings Field in Long Beach, Calif.

Savanna Kastigar drove in all three runs for the Warriors and Lexi Ramirez recorded her 27th victory in the circle to propel the Warriors to a 1-0 lead in the best-of-three series.

Kastigar, Ramirez and Cheyenne Navarro all had multi-hit games for the Warriors as the team recorded nine hits on the day off Long Beach ace Hailey Harris.

Ramirez outdueled her fellow South Coast Conference Pitcher of the Year as the Warriors' ace recorded six strikeouts and allowed just two earned runs.

The Warriors got started right from first pitch as Navarro led off with an infield single to short. She was erased on a fielder's choice groundout by Emma Garcia, who would steal second with Kastigar up to bat. It would not matter though as Kastigar put the Warriors on the board with a two-run home run over the right-field fence for a quick 2-0 lead before the Vikings ever got to bat.

It was a lead that Ramirez made stand up for seven innings despite numerous threats by the hosts.

The Vikings loaded the bases in the second inning but failed to score. In the third, the Vikings cut the Warriors' lead in half in the third inning as Sienna Rievely led off with a walk and then scored on an RBI double to center field by Anaya Togia. Ramirez stranded the tying run at second by getting a lineout and a groundout to end the frame.

In the fourth, Ramirez walked two of the first three batters in the inning but stranded them there with a popup and a strikeout.

Kastigar would make it 3-1 Warriors in the fifth as she punched a two-out single up the middle off Harris to drive in Navarro from second with what proved to be the game-winning run.

The Vikings would get that run back in their half of the inning as they put runners at the corners with one out. The Vikings attempted a double steal and the Warriors got pinch-runner Leila Rodriguez in a run down and took the out, allowing Togia to score from third to make it 3-2 with two outs. The Vikings would get another infield single to put the tying run in scoring position, but Ramirez would strike out Jaela Ruiz to end the threat.

It proved to be the final threat mounted by the Vikings as Ramirez retired the final seven batters she faced to clinch the victory and bring the Warriors within one win of advancing to the 3C2A State Championships for the second time in program history.

The teams will meet again for game two on Saturday at noon. A Warriors win sends the team to state while a loss would force a third and deciding game set to start 30 minutes after the conclusion of game two.