Softball Survives Thriller Against Orange Coast to Advance

SARATOGA, Calif. --- El Camino College survived a wild Friday night with a thrilling 10-8 victory over Orange Coast College in an elimination game at the 3C2A State Championships at Viking Field at West Valley College.

With the win, the Warriors advance to day three of the 3C2A State Championships for the first time in school history where they will take on Palomar, the No. 3 seed from the South.

Hours after a dominant 7-0 win over Cypress, the Warriors looked poised to dominate again after jumping out to a 7-0 lead before the Pirates ever got a chance to come up to bat. The Warriors sent 12 batters up to the plate and capitalized on five walks to score seven runs on just three hits in the top of the first inning.

But the Pirates answered right back in their half of the first, plating five runs against Lexi Ramirez to climb back into the game. Orange Coast wasn't done as they added one in the second against Ramirez and two in the third against reliever Mahlia Espino to take an 8-7 lead.

The Warriors would not trail for long though as they tied things up in the top of the fourth thanks to a clutch two-out triple from Morgan Knight to score Ramirez from third and make it 8-8.

After taking the third inning off from pitching, Ramirez returned to the circle in the fourth and looked much more like the ace that tossed a complete-game shutout earlier in the day against Cypress. Ramirez would retire 12 of the last 13 batters she faced, shutting down the Pirates offense and holding them to a lone one-out single in the sixth.

It proved pivotal as the Warriors had enough gas left in the tank to mount one last rally in their half of the sixth. It started with Ramirez reaching base on an error to lead off the inning. Knight then had a bunt-single to the pitcher to put the go-ahead run in scoring position. Both runners advanced after a groundout by Emily Gamboa and then the Warriors grabbed the lead when Ramirez scored on a passed ball.

Then, with two outs, the Warriors added insurance as Jackie Ordonez ripped an RBI single to left to bring in Knight to make it 10-8.

Ordonez would finish the day 3-for-3 with two RBIs and a run scored from the No. 9 spot in the batting order. Cheyenne Navarro also had three hits with a double and three RBIs.

Ramirez would retire the side in order in the seventh to record her 30th win in the circle this season and second of the day. She became the first Warriors pitcher ever to reach the 30-win mark in a single season.

The 2025 Warriors also became the winningest team in school history on Friday with two wins, bringing their total to 39 wins on the season and breaking their tie with the 2017 and 2019 squads that each won 37 games.

The Warriors will look to be the first ever team to reach the 40-win mark on Friday against the Comets. The two squads met on April 4 at Palomar where the Warriors suffered a 9-1 loss in six innings. First pitch on Saturday is set for 3 p.m. with the winner advancing to face the loser of the winner's bracket game between San Mateo and Yuba.