It’s Too Late for Kennedy After Trouble Comes Early

A bad beginning was the end of Kennedy High.

The Golden Cougars were pounded by Simi Valley in the first two innings of a pool-play game and lost to the Pioneers, 7-0, in the Thousand Oaks softball tournament Saturday at Thousand Oaks Community Park.

Simi Valley (14-4), ranked third by The Times in the region, scored three runs in the first inning and four in the second on six hits, including two home runs.

The Pioneers finished with nine hits against San Diego State-bound Sandra Durazo and right-hander Lori Tande (7-3) limited Kennedy to three hits.

Kennedy (17-2), ranked ninth in the region, rode a 14-game winning streak into the game. But the Golden Cougars faced a Simi Valley team more potent and polished than most of their City Section opponents.

Durazo (17-2) paid the price, giving up three runs with two out in the first inning on a run-scoring single to left by Tiffany Franklin and a two-run single to right by Jamie Sturdivant.

Durazo, a right-hander who entered the game with a 0.20 earned-run average, gave up four more earned runs in the second when Dawn Carifi hit a three-run home run to right-center field with one out and Franklin hit a two-out home run to left.

“The first two innings, I don’t even know what happened,” Durazo said.

“In the City, if I mess up on a pitch, I can usually get away with it because I know they’re going to need two or three hits to score. With these teams, I can’t afford that. It only takes one.

“But they were a good team, and I knew they had some good hitters. Don’t get me wrong, but I thought I was probably going to get rocked.”

Actually, Durazo allowed only three hits in the last five innings and finished with six strikeouts and one walk.

Kennedy hardly threatened Tande. She gave up singles to Eileen Solano in the third, Monica Espita in the fourth and Christina Garcia in the seventh. Tande struck out four and walked one.

Franklin, a sophomore playing in her fourth varsity game, had two hits and a walk, scored twice and had two runs batted in for Simi Valley.

Brittney Green had two hits for the Pioneers.

In other tournament games:

Mater Dei 13, Hoover 1--The Tornadoes suffered the same fate as Kennedy did against Simi Valley, getting hit early in a game that was called after five innings because of the 10-run rule.

Mater Dei (19-3), defending Southern Section Division I champion and the top-ranked team in the division, scored eight unearned helped by five Tornado errors and chased Hoover freshman Cori Herbert after 1 1/3 innings.

By then, Hoover (13-5), the sixth-ranked team in the region, trailed, 6-0.

Herbert (12-5) allowed three earned runs, four hits and three walks, striking out one before giving way to Erin Lucero.

Herbert took a 1-0 loss to Santa Maria St. Joseph earlier in the day.

“It was not a good day, to put it mildly,” Herbert said.

Hoover scored against sophomore Melissa Peterson (1-0) in the second inning on doubles by Diane Lee and Karla Nanne.

Newbury Park 2, Hart 0--Oli Keohohou hit a triple to score Tina Roscoe and Elisa Muran and the Panthers (13-5) upset second-ranked Hart (15-5).

Thousand Oaks 11, Cabrillo 0--Jennifer Sharron (12-2) pitched a no-hitter and Jennifer Richards homered for the Lancers (14-2) in a game called after five innings because of the 10-run rule.

Cerritos 3, Camarillo 2--Cindy Ball pitched a two-hitter with nine strikeouts and had two hits, but the Scorpions (10-6) fell in nine innings.

Amanda Buttell hit a three-run double in the first inning for Camarillo in a 5-0 victory over Moorpark later in the day.

Kennedy 1, San Marcos 0--Monique Acedo scored with two out in the sixth inning. Acedo singled, took third on Carin Garcia’s double and came home on a single by Stacey Fields.

Durazo pitched a three-hitter, striking out 12 and walking three.

Righetti 1, Chaminade 0--Jocelyn Forrest pitched a no-hitter for the Warriors (21-1) and struck out 13.

Amanda Pearlman, Lauren Rousselet and Kim Nelli, who drew walks, were the only baserunners for Chaminade (10-5) against Forest (21-1).

Chaminade 4, Westlake 0--Maureen LeCocq pitched a three-hitter with five strikeouts and Rousselet had three hits, including a three-run double in the fifth, for the Eagles.

Michelle Notaro, who has an eight-game hitting streak, singled for Westlake (8-7-1).

Sarah Koppel and Judy Bowman had the Warriors’ other hits.

Louisville 4, Cypress 3--Jessica Green drew a bases-loaded walk to score Christine Jordt with the winning run for the Royals.

Becky Witt had two hits and Jemma Santos was two for two and walked twice for Louisville (10-6).

Rio Mesa 8, Louisville 6--Laura Moreno went four for four with three runs batted in, and Kiara Cochran had three hits and three RBIs for the Spartans (13-2).

Jessica Hanaseth hit a grand slam in the first inning for Louisville.

Cerritos 2, Moorpark 0--J.J. Jaegge singled in the second and Meghan Carlson singled in the fourth for the only hits for the Musketeers (9-7) against Jessica Van der Linden.

Simi Valley 11, San Marcos 1--Tande had four hits and scored four runs, and Green (6-1) pitched a two-hitter and had a three-run home run for the Pioneers.

Tiffany Franklin had three RBIs, and Dawn Carifi had two hits and two RBIs for Simi Valley.

Newbury Park 8, Millikan 0--Keohohou and Cindy Muran each drove in two runs, and Elis Muran had two hits and scored two runs.