After a scoreless first inning, the home team was not prepared to let the visitors leave this a close game.
The visiting Pasadena City College Lancers scored first in the second inning.
El Camino answered back in the bottom half of the second inning, scoring five runs and nearly batting through the entire lineup.
Back-to-back doubles from freshmen Taylor Richter, right fielder, and Kammy Fisher, first baseman, put the Warriors on the scoreboard.
Freshman center fielder Raelani Camez capped off the inning with a two-run inside the park home run to give El Camino a 5-1 lead over the Lancers.
The El Camino softball team (10-6) collected its fourth-straight win with a 9-1 victory in five innings over Pasadena City College (8-7).
Freshman pitcher Natalie Francis had herself another solid outing for the Warriors. Francis pitched a complete game, allowing only four hits and one run with three strikeouts, to earn her seventh win of the season.
“I was super impressed with the way (Francis) fielded her position today,” Warriors coach Jessica Rapoza said. “We’ve been working on that a lot in the last few practices and it really paid off today.”
Freshman Brigid Antonelli, catcher, Fisher, and Richter led the home team with two hits each in three at-bats. All three also contributed with at least one stolen base.
“(Natalie) was on top of it today,” Antonelli said. “We had a good warm-up and came out ready to hit. We had a couple of errors, but we didn’t let them bother us.”
Camez finished with only one hit in three at-bats, but made it count adding two RBIs.
“I was really pumped after the (home run),” Camez said. “The team executed great and (Francis) was strong for us today.”
El Camino finished the game with nine hits in 22 at-bats and two errors. The Lancers finished with four hits in 18 at-bats and five errors.
“I think we’re starting to learn some things about the (team),” Rapoza said. “Having all new players it takes a while to find the identity and the personality of the team. But I think we are starting to settle in and we’re finding out who we are.”
The Warriors begin a five-game road trip, which starts with Mt. San Antonio College on March 3 at 3 p.m.
