A Giant Step for Kennedy

It was only an infield single for Kelli Moorman but it was a giant leap in credibility for the Kennedy High softball team.

Moorman’s single drove in pinch-runner Elaine Pacheco in the bottom of the 10th inning to give the Golden Cougars a 2-1 victory over El Camino Real in a Northwest Valley Conference game Thursday at Brand Park.

Kennedy (8-1, 2-0) has been a rising program the past two seasons, thanks mainly to junior pitcher Sandra Durazo. And the victory over the Conquistadores was the first time the Golden Cougars toppled the top program in the City Section.

“This was huge,” Durazo said. “This game meant so much to us. It means so much I don’t even know what to say.”

Durazo was dominant as the game progressed. After El Camino Real scored in the first, Durazo (8-1), who allowed her first earned run of the season, gave up three hits over the final nine innings and retired 12 of the last 13 batters she faced. She finished with 11 strikeouts and no walks.

“Sandra’s a tough pitcher,” said El Camino Real pitcher Tami Jones, who had two of the Conquistadores’ five hits. “She got tougher as the game went on and we couldn’t do anything.”

Kennedy tied the score in the third, helped by consecutive singles by Annette Madrid, Durazo and Moorman and a bases-loaded walk to catcher Jennifer DelReal.

El Camino Real’s only threat in extra innings came after Jones singled with one out in the 10th, but she was thrown out by DelReal while attempting to steal.

With Durazo shutting down the Conquistadores (5-3, 1-1), Kennedy had several chances to put the game away.

Durazo singled with one out in the eighth and advanced to third on a stolen base and a ground ball, but was stranded when DelReal grounded out to third baseman Ciana Baca.

Baca turned in several solid defensive plays, finishing with nine assists, to help Jones (4-2) in the longest outing of her career.

“That’s the best she’s probably played all year,” Jones said. “She came up with some tough plays.”

But Baca couldn’t snare a grounder by Monica Espita to lead off the 10th. Espita, slowed by a sprained ankle, was replaced by Pacheco. Pacheco advanced to second on a wild pitch and to third on a sacrifice by Louann Avila.

After a ground ball out by Madrid failed to score Pacheco, Durazo was intentionally walked. Moorman hit Jones’ first pitch for the game-winner.

“This win will show that there’s more than one good City team in the Valley,” Kennedy Coach Lee Holden said. “We have worked awfully hard for this moment.”