El Dorado Survives in Empire

El Dorado, which beat Cypress twice during the regular season, added a third victory on Friday that guaranteed the Golden Hawks a place in the Southern Section playoffs.

El Dorado beat Cypress, 1-0, at Arnold Park to determine the Empire League’s third-place representative. Cypress must now hope for an at-large berth when pairings are released Monday.

The Empire League race ended in a four-way tie for first place. Because the league’s constitution is ambiguous about how to break such a tie, athletic directors voted to conduct a drawing to determine the league’s top two playoff teams. Kennedy was named No. 1, Loara No. 2, and Cypress and El Dorado were left to play each other for the final automatic playoff berth.

“It’s hard to beat a team three times,” El Dorado Coach Melissa Wong said. “A lot of us were wondering how we were going to do it.”

Kristen Karanzias pitched a two-hitter and Brittany Freight scored on an error in the first inning. She stole third and came home when Cypress catcher Amanda Whitney’s throw sailed into left field.

Karanzias got out of a first-and-second, two-out situation in the first inning. With the help of first baseman Heather Martin, El Dorado (18-10) got out of another tough spot in the fifth.

Tamara Yokoyama led off the fifth with a single for Cypress (19-7) and Dawn Johnson was sent in to pinch run. Casey Gorzeman dropped a bunt to the right of home plate, but Martin, charging on the pitch, fielded the ball and fired to shortstop Molly Harris at second for the force out. Trisha Karsting then walked and Meghan Stodgel bunted the runners to second and third. Kristen Baker grounded out to second base.