Moorpark’s Kauffman Makes Golden West Pay Dearly for Slight in 2-1 Softball Win

Tami Kauffman is not used to being treated with disrespect, but she certainly made the most of such an occasion Wednesday afternoon at Moorpark College.

With the winning run at third base in the eighth inning, Golden West’s Steph Viola intentionally walked cleanup hitter Julie Coert, choosing to pitch to Kauffman instead. Offended by the strategy, Kauffman ripped the first pitch up the middle to give host Moorpark a 2-1 victory in its nonconference softball opener.

“I was so mad,” Kauffman said. “I thought, ‘Oh, they must think I’m nothing.’ That’s never happened to me before, and I’ve been playing since I was 6.”

Kauffman, an All-Western State Conference selection last season, batted .325 as a freshman. And she loves a challenge.

“I like being up when the pressure is on,” Kauffman said.

Coach Will Thurston didn’t rely on Kauffman much last year, but it took just one game for that to change this season.

“This year she is truly experienced,” Thurston said. “We put her in the middle part of the lineup and we expect her to come through for us. Lo and behold, she did.”

Stevie Campbell’s leadoff walk set the stage for Kauffman’s heroics. After Theresa Pasinosky popped up a bunt for the first out, Campbell stole second.

Gina Skinner’s groundout moved the winning run to third before Coert, who drove in the tying run in her previous at-bat, was intentionally walked.

It took all of one pitch for Kauffman to upset Golden West’s strategy.

“I knew I was going to get the first pitch,” Kauffman said. “She had been throwing strikes on all of her first pitches.”

Golden West (2-5) scored an unearned run in the first inning on a single and two errors.

Leadoff batter Nicole Berlanier lined a single down the right-field line, went to second on an error and scored when first baseman Coert fielded a bunt and threw the ball into the dirt and down the right-field line.

Although Moorpark’s offense sputtered in the first five innings, Raider pitcher Heather Santiago did not. Santiago, a freshman right-hander from Simi Valley High, scattered five hits, struck out six and walked none.

“Heather kept us in it with her pitching,” Thurston said. “We made some nervous infield mistakes early in the game, but it all worked out.”

The Raiders tied the score, 1-1, in the sixth inning on Coert’s run-scoring double.

Campbell, who went two for three and scored both Raider runs, led off the inning with a single to right and moved to second on Pasinosky’s sacrifice bunt. After Skinner’s groundout sent Campbell to third, Coert hit a 1-and-2 pitch down the left-field line to score the run.

Golden West threatened to break the tie in the eighth, putting runners at second and third with one out. But two fly-ball outs retired the side.