A bases loaded walk-off single in the eighth inning by freshmen catcher Breanna Lucero lifted the Vikings to a 2-1 victory over El Camino.
Starting pitcher sophomore Olivia Ramirez got the win in her dominant performance on the rubber. She threw a complete game pitching all eight innings while giving up one run on six hits.
This win marked the Vikings third straight win after losing two straight last week.
When asked about her team’s ability to bounce back head coach Megan Martinez responded “ I told you we believe in the sun rule. At night everything good and bad goes away and you start over the next day. We really live by that. We went back to our basics, back to our regular practices and I’m just so proud of my team. Olivia really pounded the zone. She did so all week with Hester having her back to close and our bats have been really resilient lately.”
The lone run given up by Ramirez was in the first inning. After that she responded by pitching seven scoreless innings and getting the win.
When asked about her performance Ramirez responded “All pitches were working today. We were trying to see where they were standing in the box and pitch from there. Every pitch was working well.”
The Vikings would get their first run of the game in the fourth inning on a RBI single hit by sophomore left fielder Jasmine Delgado.
Both teams were held scoreless in a 1-1 tie leading to extra innings.
El Camino was threatening in the eighth starting off with two singles, one going off of the shin of Ramirez. Ramirez would then show off her toughness by staying in the game and retiring the next three batters leaving both runners stranded.
When asked about that eighth inning Ramirez responded, “ That inning was really huge. Last year I would let injuries get to me, but in my head I said ‘don’t let them beat me’ because I knew I was going to get out of here with them scoring no runs. And bringing that in here we kept the momentum.”
After those three outs the momentum shifted their direction. Energy was high all throughout the bottom half of the inning which would help spark the Vikings rally.
The first two batters, Kirstin Sanchez and Gladys Garcia, would get on base with a single and a hit by pitch. They would then advance to second and third on a sacrifice bunt by Giselle Cobian.
With an RBI already in the game El Camino elected to intentionally walk Delgado to face Breanna Lucero.
When asked about her reaction to that decision Lucero responded, “I thought that they ‘f’d’ up because I knew that I was ready.” Once they walked her it gave me more confidence to get a hit and score the runner.
With two strikes in the at bat Lucero would walk the game off by hitting a single into left field scoring Sanchez, leading the Vikings to a 2-1 victory over El Camino.
“I just knew that I needed to get a base hit. I was not worried or nervous at all, I was confident that I was going to get a hit. I was ready.” Said Lucero.
The Vikings hope to stay hot as they play Compton on Tuesday.