Camarillo Trumps Hoover, Thousand Oaks With a Pair of Aces

Yes, Camarillo High played solid defense and got some clutch hitting in two Thousand Oaks softball tournament games at Los Cerritos Intermediate School on Saturday.

But the reason the Scorpions (15-1-1) beat Hoover, 1-0, and Thousand Oaks, 2-0, in advancing to next Saturday’s final against Westlake was the pitching of Cindy Ball and Melanie Richardson.

Ball (7-0-1) pitched a two-hitter in the semifinals against Thousand Oaks, striking out nine without a walk. She has not allowed a run in 60 innings this season.

Richardson (6-1) had 11 strikeouts and walked one against Hoover, also pitching a two-hitter.

“It makes my job a lot easier having those two,” Scorpion Coach Nicole Victoria said. “We have an advantage because we have two great pitchers. Most teams have one good one and one backup.”

Kourtney Edge singled home Brooke Rutschman with two out in the first inning against Thousand Oaks. Ball singled home Sarah DeWoody in the sixth.

Ball yielded a two-out single in the first inning to Kristin Combe--who was caught stealing on the next pitch--then retired 13 consecutive Lancers.

“I was very nervous because they looked so serious during warmups,” Ball said after defeating the Lancers for the third time this season. “My curve and rise were my best pitches, but I tried to mix it around.”

Richardson’s mix of fastballs and riseballs, coupled with a devastating changeup that had the Tornadoes fooled, made her unhittable after she gave up a leadoff single to Daphne Vadman in the first.

She retired the next 10 batters, seven in a row on strikeouts. She needed only 11 pitches to strike out the side in the second and did not throw two consecutive balls until the fourth.

Karla Nanne’s single in the fourth ended the strikeout string, but Richardson retired the next eight Hoover batters.

“I knew they could hit and I expected them to,” Richardson said. “I guess I was just lucky. All of my pitches were working.”

Robin Degner, who had two hits, drove in the run with a two-out single to right in the second.

Hoover (15-6) lost by one run for the sixth time, but coach Debbie Rinder wasn’t too disappointed.

“We look at this tournament as a chance to play high-caliber teams,” she said. “To win it would have been a dream situation, but now people are looking at us. Hoover is a respectable team. Anyone who doesn’t respect us is fooling themselves.”

Thousand Oaks (16-6) and Jennifer Sharron (15-6) may have been suffering from fatigue.

Sharron, who pitched eight games in eight days, allowed six hits and had three strikeouts, well below her season average of 9.7.

Earlier she threw a two-hitter, striking out five, as the Lancers defeated San Marcos, 1-0.

Erika Hanson hit a two-out home run in the bottom of the seventh against the Royals (15-4).

“She was pretty much spent,” Lancer Coach Gary Walin said of Sharron. “But I’m really proud of her. You could see she was tired.”

Westlake 1, St. Joseph 0--Kelly DeArman scattered five hits and struck out 12 as the Warriors (12-8) advanced to the final.

Sarah Kopple’s sacrifice fly in the eighth scored Kristi Whitney.

In an earlier game, DeArman pitched a no-hitter and struck out nine to beat Simi Valley, 2-0.

San Marcos 2, Hoover 1--The Tornadoes (15-7) couldn’t overcome the Royals’ two first-inning runs even though Tina Kinney (13-6) allowed San Marcos only one hit the rest of the way.

Chaminade 3, Cabrillo 0--Maureen LeCocq (7-4) pitched a four-hitter, struck out seven, and hit a two-run double for the Eagles (12-10) in a consolation game.

Buena 1, Newbury Park 0--Shannon Prentice pushed a bunt through the infield to score Renae Hoffman from second base in the eighth for the Bulldogs (12-8) in a consolation game.