SOFTBALL ROUNDUP : El Camino Real Ends Banning High Season With 11-Inning Victory

Going into the semifinal round of the L.A. City 4-A softball playoffs, Banning High had lost only two games in a 23-game season.

The Pilots had lost to San Pedro and El Camino Real, two of the section’s top-rated teams. They got a second chance Wednesday against El Camino Real at South Gate Park in a game that would send the winner into the city final.

But again the result was the same as El Camino Real ended Banning’s season with a 2-1 victory in 11 innings.

El Camino Real will face San Pedro--a winner over San Fernando in the other semifinal--for the title Wednesday.

Perhaps the most difficult part of the loss for Banning to swallow was the manner in which it was eliminated.

Both of El Camino Real’s runs were set up by Banning errors, the first coming in the first inning and the second (and eventual game winner) in the 11th.

“It’s a tough way to lose,” said Banning Coach Cathy Blankenship, whose team finished with a 21-3 record. “No one ever likes to give anything away.

“But I think the pressure may have gotten to them and they may have gotten a little tired.”

Blankenship said she felt a little consolation in the fact that her team’s only three losses came at the hands of two of the city’s better teams.

“If you lose,” she said, “you want to lose to the best, Those teams are now in the finals.”

El Camino Real, the top-seeded team in the playoffs, scored the winning run in the top of the 11th on a single, a throwing error and a groundout.

With one out and a runner on first, Banning pitcher Kricket Kern (16-3) fielded a sacrifice bunt but threw wildly to first base, allowing the runners to move to second and third. The groundout pushed over the winning run.

After El Camino Real had taken a 1-0 lead in the first inning, Banning tied the score on an RBI triple by Claudia Delgadillo in the fifth.

San Pedro 9, San Fernando 1--Jstone Vines had three hits and scored two runs and pitcher Meagan Moore threw a three-hitter while collecting three hits and one RBI to lead the Pirates in the semifinal round of the City 4-A playoffs.

San Pedro (20-5) will face El Camino Real in the final Wednesday.

The Pirates scored a run in the first, two in the third, one in the fourth and put the game out of reach with five more in the sixth.

Moore (18-4) struck out six and walked four.

Hart 4, Hawthorne 3--The Cougars threw a scare into top-ranked Hart, leading 3-2 at one point, but fell short in a second-round game of the CIF-Southern Section 4-A playoffs at Hart.

Trailing 2-0, Hawthorne scored three runs in the fourth inning to take the lead. Tricia Waayers scored on an error and Katina Stallworth followed with a two-run double to left-center field.

The lead didn’t last long. Hart came back with two runs in the fourth, scoring on a triple by Kelly Kepplinger and an error by third baseman Jennifer Stone.

That was enough for Hart pitcher Kim Weil (25-1), who finished with a six-hitter and nine strikeouts.

Weil entered the game having allowed only one earned run in 165 innings for an 0.04 ERA. Hawthorne’s two earned runs are the most she had allowed all season.

Waayers (16-3) went the distance for Hawthorne, giving up six hits. The Bay League champion ended the season with a 24-3 record.

Hart (29-1) advances to Friday’s quarterfinals.