Angelica Cortez felt the same way the rest of her Warrior teammates did at the end of Tuesday’s South Coast Conference softball game against the East L.A. Huskies and pitcher Vanessa Salinas.

“She was hitting her spots really well,” Cortez said. “I tried to adjust and she caught me off guard.”

Cortez came to the plate in the bottom of the seventh inning with the bases loaded and two outs, hoping to put the bat on the ball.

“I wanted to hit a line drive and bring in a few runs,” Cortez said. “(Salinas) threw a rise-ball and I just couldn’t lay off it.”

Cortez struck out swinging to end the game, but was not the only hitter to do so. Salinas threw a complete game two-hitter, striking out 14 Warriors en route to a 3-0 victory for the Huskies.

“You have to work the batters during the whole at bat,” Salinas said. “You can’t just stay in one spot.”

The Warriors will host Long Beach City today at 3 p.m. at Freeman Park in Gardena.

Salinas started the bottom of the seventh by striking out freshman Brittany Vedenoff before running into trouble.

Teresa Flores hit a weak ground ball to the left side of the infield, but the Husky third baseman Pamela Ramirez was unable to field or throw the ball cleanly, allowing Flores to advance to second. Katelyn Oro singled and advanced to second, as the Husky defense prevented Flores from scoring. Diana Cortez would walk in the next Warrior at bat, bringing up the potential winning run for the Warriors.

“I knew I had to get it done and not let anyone score,” Salinas said.

Unfortunately for the Warriors, Salinas did just that, striking out freshman catcher Melissa Linares before ending the game striking Angelica out.

“(Salinas) did a good job against us,” coach Susie Calderon said.

“We needed to make adjustments and we didn’t do it. Our hitters went up there trying to kill the ball and we can’t do that.”

Tuesday’s loss began a five-game home stand for the women, who play all their home games at Freeman Park with no field to play on at EC.

The remaining four games at home have the women facing off against Harbor College (9-2 loss yesterday), Long Beach City (today), Pasadena City (Tuesday) and Cerritos (March 26) before traveling north to play in the Santa Barbara City Tournament (March 28-29).

“It feels good being at home,” freshman shortstop Yaneth Garcia, Fremont High School, said. “We are going to try to use these home games to help us going into the tournament.”

The Warriors will face Saddleback, Santa Barbara, Santa Ana and Rio Hondo in Santa Barbara, which is the last tournament before the end of the regular season.

Warrior starting pitcher Kaycee Wilke threw a complete game for the Warriors against East L.A., allowing three runs on seven hits while striking out three and forcing two Husky batters to ground into double plays.

“Our defense contributed a lot,” Wilke said. “It helps my mentality during the game, knowing I have a strong defense behind me.”

In the top of the fifth inning, Wilke ran into some trouble against the Huskies.

Wilke loaded the bases on a walk and two singles before Husky batter Alexis Garcia would single, driving in a run before Alexis Ramirez grounded to Oro, forcing her to go to first base for the first out.

Wilke would get the next batter Samantha Montiel to ground to Oro again, this time with Oro throwing home to force the runner out for the second out of the inning.

Wilke then got Salinas to groundout to third base, as Oro recorded the third out of the inning, throwing Salinas out at first base.

“This game could have gotten ugly if it wasn’t for our defense,” Calderon said.

Garcia also believes that the Warrior defense is one reason why Wilke was so successful.

“It’s what we needed to do, to not make a lot of mistakes,” Garcia said. “It is what motivated (Wilke).”