“What type of animal are we?” El Camino College coach Jessica Rapoza shouted.
“Wolves!” the Warriors Softball team exclaimed.
“What do wolves do?” Rapoza asked.
“Hunt!” the Warriors howled in unison.
El Camino’s softball team was on the prowl, hunting for a third victory against Los Angeles Harbor College on Friday, April 19.
Pitcher Emma Figueroa stepped up to the plate, her focus unwavering. The crowd held its breath as she delivered a series of precise throws that kept the Seahawks at bay.
With eyes on the prize, the Warriors rallied behind Figueroa, bouncing back from a previous loss and winning 2-0 at home against the Seahawks.
Hoping to host the first round of playoffs in early May, Rapoza knew L.A. Harbor was the team to beat.
“We knew not only L.A. Harbor was hot coming into this, but they’ve also played good [in] their last five or six games,” Rapoza said. “They’re a super competitive team and they’ve got a competitive spirit so we knew that we were not gonna sleep on Harbor at all today.”
The Seahawks had one hit and one player left on base during the first inning. The Warriors had two fly-outs to center field by infielders Malia Martin and Cerise Cervantes, ending the inning with one hit, no runs and no errors.
The dugouts were full of energetic chants from both teams.
The Warriors fired up one another during an exciting second inning, when pitcher Madilyn Radeke singled to right field, resulting in an RBI, and outfielder Caitlin Michaels scored the game’s first run.
“I feel like our dugout is such a fuel to our fire, their energy and intensity in the dugout is so good for us and it keeps us in games.”
The top of the fourth inning had an explosive hit to center field by Seahawks catcher Ashley Parra, followed by a line drive base hit up the middle from teammate and outfielder Marina Hinojosa.
Despite their strong bats, the Warriors pushed ahead 2-0 following infielder Emily Esparza‘s single to left field, resulting in an RBI, where catcher Julianna Vasquez advanced to third letting outfielder Aaliyah Aguirre score.
After zero runs and one hit in the sixth inning, the Warriors’ resilience was tested, but they bounced back with clean pitches from education major Figueroa, 18.
Figueroa tossed a gem of all seven innings, allowing no runs on only three hits, and one strikeout.
“Figgy [Figueroa] does a really good job at knowing batters and hitting her spot,” assistant coach Liz Cortez said. “The energy shifted back in our favor when we had bases loaded and Figgy was on the mound and able to get us out of that hole.”
Despite the loss, L.A. Harbor coach Shawnae Campbell praised her team’s determined effort.
“We wanted to play well defensively against a good team and we fell short, but we played better for sure,” Campbell said.
The Warriors’ howl of victory could be heard across the field as they secured the win against the Seahawks.
The Warriors improve to 24-11 while the Seahawks drop to 13-25.
“We take all our teams with intensity, regardless of the team,” Figueroa said. “El Camino, we go in hard and we go in to hunt.”
Next Game
El Camino vs Fullerton
@ ECC Softball Field
Saturday, April 20, 1 p.m.
