East County Sports

El Capitan softball flat in CIF D-2 opener

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2022 EAST COUNTY PREP SOFTBALL

 

By Nick Pellegrino
ECS staff writer

LAKESIDE — In a day full of upsets, East County wasn’t immune from the carnage. Included was the CIF Division 2 field after second-seeded El Capitan struggled against seventh-seeded El Camino, with the visiting Warriors taking a rather easy 7-1 decision Thursday (May 19) in the San Diego Section championships.

It was a sub-par day all-around for the Vaqueros, which needed to utilize two pitchers, committed four errors on defense, and the bats registered just one extra-base hit in a rather flat performance. Even a stolen base attempt saw the runner thrown out by more than 10 feet.

It was just one of those days.

“El Camino was ready to play, while we just were not all there today,” said El Cap head coach Joe Cota. “It looked like they had a scouting report on us and knew right where to get at us.”

The lone Vaqueros run came in the fourth inning. Trailing 4-0, sophomore second baseman Aubrey Thorne came home(see photo, left)  on a basehit by Alanna Christiaens.

Only two of El Cmaino’s runs were earned, as Vaqueros starting pitcher Brooke Horn, a leading candidate to be the Grossmont Hills League pitcher of the year, was pulled after five innings.  Horn only struck out two Wildcats batters and walked three,while the defense committed three errors behind her.

Horn’s replacement in the cirlce, “Ranger” Peyton Wells, also yielded an unearned run, but the freshman  did bat 1-for-1 in her lone at-bat.

The lone defensive highlight saw El Capitan senior shortstop Hailey Mulligan glided to her right to snare a line drive, then fired the ball behind the runner at thirdf base, as Christiaens grabbed the throw and tagged out an El Camino base-runner for an inning-ending double pay.

El Capitan (20-9 overall), which received a double by catcher Ava Gall, advanced to the challenger bracket of the double-elimination portioj of the tournament. They will host GHL rival Grossmont, which fell to Poway, 4-1.

Please note: Saturday’s game time is expected to be changed to 10 a.m., peding approval by the CIFSDS office due to various graduation and end-of-the-semester events.

Did you know?: This season, Vaqueros head coach Joe Cota is being assisted by former San Diego State standout Taryin Casillas, an All-East County performer for the Grossmont Foothillers in 2004.

El Capitan head coach Joe Cota (left) and assistant coach Taryin Casillas, the former All-CIF and All-East County performer for Grossmont in 2004 / Nick Pellegrino

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