El Camino Real wins City crown
For the second year in a row, El Camino Real High pitcher Karyn Wright had tears in her eyes after the City Section softball championship game. Only this time, they were tears of joy.
The senior right-hander tossed a five-hitter with seven strikeouts as the secondseeded Conquistadores defeated Carson, 5-0, on Wednesday at UCLA, avenging last season’s 6-3 loss to Carson. El Camino Real won its 14th City title and first since 2005, when Wright’s sister Kathryn played for the Conquistadores (27-5).
Karyn Wright’s 90th career victory came against a fearsome Colts lineup led by senior shortstop Darian Tautalafua, who entered the game batting .490 with 17 home runs and 45 runs batted in, her 53 career homers tied for the most in state history. Tautalafua hit a tworun double off Wright to spark Carson’s comeback victory last season, but this time she was hitless and flied out to right field to end the game.
“We had success pitching her away last year and thought she’d expect the same thing, so we pitched her inside, which is where she likes it,” Wright said of her strategy against Carson’s slugger. “Sometimes you have to beat someone by pitching to their own strength.”
Brittany Moeai pitched a five-hitter with four strikeouts and four walks and did not allow a hit until McKenna Arriola’s infield single in the fifth inning. However, three errors proved to be the undoing of the top-seeded Colts (25-6). In the third inning, Cassandra Perez hit a hard grounder through the legs of Carson second baseman Brianna Tautalafua to score Natalie Winokur and Arriola and give El Camino Real a 2-0 lead.
After the Colts led off the fourth with back-to-back singles by Moeai and Angela Gonzalez, Hillary Edior hit into a fielder’s choice, Jolynn Finlay struck out and Viri Ramos was hit by a pitch to load the bases for pinch-hitter Laura Herrera, who struck out to end the threat.
Arriola stole second and scored on Dayna DeBlasi’s two-out single to center in the fifth, increasing the Conquistadores’ lead to 3-0. They tacked on two insurance runs in the seventh.