Moorpark Hits and Misses, So Thousand Oaks Wins, 5-1

Thousand Oaks High recorded a 5-1 victory over Moorpark on Thursday at Thousand Oaks Community Park to retain sole possession of first place in the Marmonte League.

But the game was much closer than the score indicates.

“Does it feel like the five was the winner and the one was the loser?” asked Coach Gary Walin after watching his Lancers survive numerous Moorpark threats.

Moorpark (8-7, 4-2 in league play) collected 10 hits off Nicole Angelo (8-1) but had little to show for it.

“You get 10 hits in a game, you usually win in softball,” Moorpark Coach Geoff Combe said. “And you for sure get more than one run.”

But Combe, a Lancer assistant from 1996-98, knew where Moorpark, which committed three errors, went awry.

Musketeers were thrown out at third in the second inning and home in the fourth, and hit into fly ball double plays in the fifth and sixth.

“We’ve been having trouble scoring runs so I kind of pushed it a little bit,” Combe said. “I probably should have been a little more conservative.”

The Lancers (11-1, 6-0), who had seven hits, scored two runs in the first on three hits and some exceptional base running by leadoff batter Sheridan Fowler and No. 2 Andi Keesling.

Moorpark responded with a run in the second when freshman Jonae Perez ripped a liner into left-center field to score courtesy runner Lauren McKinney.

But Perez tried to stretch the double into a triple and was thrown out by shortstop Michelle Spencer on a relay throw from Keesling, the center fielder.

In the fourth, courtesy runner McKinney, trying to score from second on Nicole Brown’s single, was thrown out at the plate by Keesling on a perfect one-hop strike.