COMMUNITY COLLEGE ROUNDUP : Orange Coast Wins Its First Softball Title

Orange Coast College claimed its first Orange Empire Conference championship in the 15-year history of the softball program with a 1-0 victory over Rancho Santiago Wednesday in Santa Ana.

The Pirates (30-9, 18-3 in conference) started the day having already clinched at least a tie for the title. They held a one-game lead over Cypress. But while Cypress had an easy time against Irvine Valley, winning, 11-0, in five innings, OCC struggled.

OCC finally scored in the eighth inning on a two-out single by Sam Lutsch, who got a change-up and knocked it into right field for the game-winning hit.

Mattie Gomez had struck out on a pitch in the dirt to lead off the inning, but reached base when catcher Amy Lewis threw wild to first. Tracey Colombo sacrificed Gomez to second, but Becky Toler flied out to center for the second out.

Shannon Ebert was walked intentionally, bringing up Lutsch.

Alisha Nelson (21-6) retired Rancho Santiago on three pop flies to shortstop Kathy Shortall to end the game.

“It means a lot to us,” OCC Coach Nick Trani said about the conference championship. “It was our goal starting in the fall. Now, no matter what happens in the playoffs, they can’t take this away from us.”

The start of the game hinted at anything but a postgame celebration for OCC. Rancho Santiago loaded the bases on three consecutive errors--two by Shortall and another by third baseman Kami Bigler.

But Diana Soto grounded to Bigler, who threw to home for a forceout, and catcher Toler threw to first to complete the double play. Jennifer Raworth then grounded out to end the inning.

Nelson (20-6) pitched a three-hitter for OCC and improved her all-time victory total at the college to 42. She was 22-8 last season.

Celeste Gordon (9-11) pitched a three-hitter for Rancho Santiago (19-19, 11-10).

In other conference games:

Cypress 11, Irvine Valley 0 (5 innings, mercy rule)--Starting pitcher Cindy Hover went two for three, scored twice, drove in two runs and combined with five relievers on a one-hitter for the host Chargers (36-14, 17-4). Irvine Valley is 1-22, 0-21.

Saddleback 6, Fullerton 1--Wendy Clemens went two for four with a double and three RBIs for Saddleback (21-16, 9-12). Fullerton is 29-18, 11-10.

Golden West 3, Riverside 2--Dana Ferdinand had a two-run single in the fourth inning for Golden West (12-25, 7-14), which won despite committing six errors.