Warriors Have Game Slip Away against West Valley

SARATOGA, Calif. --- El Camino College suffered a heartbreaking 4-3 loss to West Valley on Thursday evening in the first game of the 3C2A State Championships at Viking Field in Saratoga, Calif.

The Warriors held a one-run and were just two outs away from advancing in the winner's bracket but the Vikings would rally for two to walk off the Warriors.

Emma Garcia was 2-for-3 with a run scored and Emily Gamboa went 2-for-3 with an RBI to lead the Warriors offense while Lexi Ramirez took the loss, allowing four runs, three earned, on seven hits and seven walks.

Ramirez and her counterpart, Ashlie Nakano, were outstanding through four innings as the only run of the game came on consecutive doubles for the Vikings to give them a 1-0 lead into the fifth.

The Vikings made it 2-0 on a sacrifice fly in the fifth before the Warriors offense came alive in the sixth. Cheyenne Navarro led off with a double and then Garcia walked. After a strikeout, Lilly Lewis walked to load the bases and put the tying run in scoring position.

Ramirez stepped up and helped her own cause with a single through the left side to cut the deficit to 2-1. Morgan Knight then hit an RBI groundout to tie the score at 2-2.

Gamboa then stepped to the plate and came up with a clutch single to left to score Lewis and give the Warriors the 3-2 lead.

Both teams got baserunner on in the bottom of the sixth and top of the seventh but nothing materialized for either side.

In the bottom of the seventh, Ramirez got the first out of the inning on a groundball to second. But Brianna Chambers-Lee tied things up with a solo home run to left-center. Ramirez would recover to get the second out of the inning but she would issue her sixth and seventh walk of the game to put the game-winning run in scoring position.

It proved costly as catcher Makayla Villalpando hammered a single off the wall in left-center to bring in the winning run and send the Warriors on the long road to the state title.

It was the Warriors' first loss since April 22, snapping a five-game winning streak. The Warriors will now have to survive and advance in the elimination bracket beginning Friday afternoon against Cypress at San Jose City College. First pitch is set for 2 p.m.