A Little Goes Long Way for Newbury Park, 1-0

Tough week for the Thousand Oaks High softball team, not to mention Lancer ace Jennifer Sharron.

Just two days after losing an 11-inning game to Camarillo, The Times’ top-ranked team in the region, Thousand Oaks stood up to Newbury Park, the No. 2 team, for 21 innings only to lose, 1-0, in a Marmonte League game Thursday at Borchard Park.

Amy Berman’s hard grounder to second baseman Colleen Spencer allowed Elisa Muran to score from third more than four hours after the start.

Four hundred and eighty-one pitches later, it was over.

For Sharron, who threw 237 pitches, the ending was almost a welcome relief.

“I could say I’m a little disappointed that we lost, but I don’t think anyone expected us to do as well as we did,” said Sharron (3-2), who allowed 11 hits and struck out seven.

Sharron pitched 11 innings against Camarillo and allowed six hits.

Although Thousand Oaks (4-2) drops to 0-2 in league play, the Lancers are clearly a contender and look forward to their second meetings with Camarillo and Newbury Park.

The workhorse for the Panthers was senior right-hander Kristi Fox (6-0), who threw 244 pitches, allowed five hits and struck out 18. She retired 17 batters in a row from the 13th to 18th innings and did not allow a hit after surrendering a single to Angela Ciufo in the 13th.

“I was really tired, but just the intensity of the game kept everybody up,” said Fox, who has pitched 42 innings in six days.

Newbury Park (8-0, 3-0) had the most opportunities to score, but the Lancers came up with clutch defense throughout. The Panthers left runners in scoring position in the first, eighth, ninth, 12th and 17th innings and had a runner thrown out at the plate in the third.

In the ninth, Newbury Park left the bases loaded when Sharron struck out Candace Roberts with a riseball on an 0-and-2 pitch. In the 12th, the Panthers had runners at second and third with two out, but Sharron enticed a popup from Muran to end the inning.

In the 21st, Muran had an infield single and went to third on Emily Webster’s sacrifice bunt. After Tawni Yamauchi reached base on a fielder’s choice to put runners on first and third, Berman came through.

“[Berman] did exactly what she was supposed to do,” Coach Mike Morgan said. “It was almost textbook. It just took 21 innings to develop.”

Jennifer Richards, Thousand Oaks’ designated player, had three of the Lancers’ five hits.