HIGH SCHOOL SOFTBALL : Escondido Moves Past El Capitan

This was supposed to be a rebuilding year for the Escondido softball team.

And if the Cougars were to get a chance to defend their 1991 San Diego Section 2-A championship, the few returning players--such as catcher Kelly Fluharty--would have to carry them a long way.

Fluharty didn’t find that an easy task. She put so much extra pressure on herself this season, her batting average plummeted from .285 last year to .125.

She found her way back Thursday with a two-out single that capped Escondido’s two-run second inning against El Capitan in the section semifinals at Kit Carson Park in Escondido.

Her single was one of three hits in the inning and it helped send the top-seeded Cougars to the 2-A final with a 2-0 victory.

Despite Fluharty’s earlier setbacks, the Cougars have done a remarkable rebuilding job. They will take a 25-2 record into Saturday’s final against Christian (22-5) at 12:30 p.m. at the Mesa del Sol complex in Clairemont.

“I was hoping she’d get hot in the tourney. She has too much potential,” Escondido Coach Jeff Carlovsky said of Fluharty, a junior. “Maybe she’s getting her confidence back.”

“I’ve been really frustrated,” Fluharty said. “I got into a big slump. I put pressure on myself. I moved down in the batting order . . . This hit kind of took the pressure off.”

With the bases loaded, two outs and one run in, Fluharty grounded the first pitch from Marcie Moretz through the hole at shortstop, scoring Kim Scales. Scales was one of two batters to draw walks against freshman Moretz (15-5).

The other was Cougar sophomore pitcher Jennifer Chambers, who--batting in front of Fluharty--walked on four consecutive pitches with the bases loaded to give herself a 1-0 lead.

The Vaqueros, Grossmont 2-A League champion, had four hits and never really threatened. Partly because of Chambers (13-0), Escondido now refers to rebuilding in past tense.

“Thirteen and oh, that’s not a bad start for a sophomore,” Carlovsky said of Chambers, who struck out five and never threw more than 14 pitches in an inning.

“I’m very proud of my team; it was a rebuilding year for us, too,” El Capitan Coach Alan Eber said. “But Jeff is a very good coach. He has those girls ready to play. You have to beat them, because they won’t make a mistake and beat themselves.”