Breakdowns on Defense Spell Upset

Certain things usually don’t happen at the City Section softball final.

Streakers rarely sprint across the outfield, championship games aren’t officiated by an all-female crew . . . and El Camino Real High doesn’t lose with a banner on the line.

But this wasn’t any 4-A Division final, as the Conquistadores learned Wednesday in a 5-0 loss to San Pedro before about 800 at UCLA’s Easton Stadium.

El Camino Real, making its 11th championship-game appearance in 14 seasons under Coach Neils Ludlow, lost for only the second time in a final.

A three-woman crew officiated a City softball final for the first time, and a male streaker dashed from the left-field corner before escaping over the right-center-field fence in the seventh inning.

But by that time, San Pedro had run away and hid as well.

The manner in which the game slipped away was disappointing to the top-seeded Conquistadores (19-3), who had built a foundation on defensive fundamentals.

They committed six errors and allowed five unearned runs.

Usually sure-handed shortstop Cara Blumfield, who committed one of the errors, called it “heart-breaking.”

“I don’t think we committed six errors all season,” said Ludlow, whose team was seeking its 12th section title, sixth in the 1990s and third in a row. “It’s kind of a helpless feeling when we make those kinds of mistakes.”

Second-seeded San Pedro (23-4) was no newcomer to the City final.

The Pirates won their seventh title and fourth of the ‘90s.

And they did it with an unlikely star.

Freshman right-hander Natalie Tam made the team only after returning All-Southern Pacific Conference pitcher Liza Prieta chose not to play at the start of the season.

Tam took advantage of the opportunity, first by earning a spot in the rotation, then taking over the full-time starting role at midseason.

“[When I came to San Pedro], I just thought I’d come in here and next year I would do better,” said Tam (15-1), who threw her 11th shutout and lowered her earned-run average to 0.05.

Tam allowed only one earned run in 121 innings and blanked all three playoff opponents.

Against the Conquistadores, she struck out six, walked none and allowed four hits.

“She’s only a freshman?” Ludlow asked. “Oh my gosh. She was amazing for a freshman.”

San Pedro collected only six hits against right-handers Ashley Redlin (4-1) and Stephanie Frasco, who combined to strike out eight.

The Pirates broke a scoreless tie in the fourth, when Wynter Turner scored on a sacrifice fly by Danielle Paulsen. Tiffany Kucura also scored on the play, on a throwing error.

San Pedro added three runs in the top of the seventh, when the Conquistadores committed four errors and the game was briefly interrupted by the streaker.

El Camino Real had not lost a City final since 1987.

“We’ve called [Easton Stadium] our second home,” said senior left-fielder Jessica Riddle, a member of Conquistadore championship teams in 1996 and ’97. “But there’s still nerves playing at a place like this. It’s like the boys’ game at Dodger Stadium. It can be scary.”

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San Pedro and El Camino Real have dominated the City Section 4-A Division softball finals in the 1990s. A year-by-year look at the decade:

1990: El Camino Real

1991: El Camino Real

1992: San Pedro

1993: San Pedro

1994: El Camino Real

1995: San Pedro

1996: El Camino Real

1997: El Camino Real

1998: San Pedro