El Camino Real Falls Short, 3-2

The El Camino Real High softball team was flying high in “one big balloon” after scoring the go-ahead run in the eighth inning of a City Section Championship semifinal on Tuesday against San Pedro.

At least that’s how catcher Christina Enea described the feeling after driving in the run.

But, with victory so close some Conquistadores were starting to cry tears of joy, Jessica Robles let all the air out of the balloon.

Robles, a junior cleanup hitter, burst El Camino Real’s bubble with a two-out, two-run double in the bottom of the eighth for a 3-2 victory in front of about 300 at South Gate Park.

“We earned the victory and they snatched it right back,” Coach Lori Chandler said. “We went from [elation] to absolute shock. . . . But that’s sports.”

Enea’s run-scoring single broke a 1-1 tie in the eighth. But El Camino Real paid the price for not getting more out of an inning that started with a single, a walk and Enea’s hit.

After Stacy Nicklaus scored, Lily Landers was thrown out trying to advance from first to third on Enea’s grounder up the middle. The next batter, Megan Zwoyer, hit into a double play to end the inning.

Still, El Camino Real (25-7) believed it had bagged its fifth trip to the championship game in six years.

After all, Melissa Coogan (25-7) had retired 14 consecutive batters before taking the circle in the eighth.

But the senior right-hander walked Heather Pego to start the inning. Pego was forced at second on Wynter Turner’s grounder and Natalie Tam popped out to second baseman Catie Goldblatt.

“I felt pretty comfortable in the last inning,” Coogan said. “Then when we got the second out, I was almost crying because the game was ours and I thought we were gonna win.”

Ashley Esparza walked on four pitches to set the stage for Robles.

“It was tough to buy a strike in that last inning,” Chandler said. “I thought [the umpire] squeezed [the strike zone] a little bit.”

Robles drove the second pitch deep into right-center field. Center fielder Brecken Bronner made a running stab, but the ball glanced off her glove. Both runners scored easily.

“It just hit my glove,” Bronner said. “If I was just a step closer, I would have had it.”

The loss spoiled an outstanding performance by Enea, who had two of El Camino Real’s five hits off Tam (11-3) and scored a run.

No. 2-seeded San Pedro (26-3), which had five hits off Coogan, scored in the first on a lead off home run by Turner.

Enea scored in the second inning on an error by Robles.