First baseman Anaya Togia hit an RBI and stole home to score the only two runs for the Vikings in a 3-2 loss to El Camino College in the first game of the second round of the 3C2A SoCal Regional playoffs.
El Camino opened the first inning with an inside-the-park home run that produced two runs.
The Vikings were forced to play catch-up the entire game, and the potential for a comeback in the fourth inning was halted by an error made by the umpire.
“There was a little bit of confusion for the umpire behind the plate. He forgot to write [the substitution] down, so it looked like an illegal substitution,” Martinez said.
Head coach Megan Martinez switched in second baseman and flex Haleigh Jacobs as a pinch runner for designated player Itzel Diaz after walking to first in the fourth inning, which had already been done in the second inning.
Jacobs returned to the field, and the delay continued until the error was noted, where it was then agreed upon that Diaz could run.
Center fielder Alesa Gonzalez had to bat after the pause with pitcher Zara Mineo on second, Diaz on first, and popped up to the opposing shortstop after two strikes.
“I’m mostly a bunter. Tomorrow, we’ll go in knowing ourselves, who’s better at what… when I go up there, I’ll be able to do what I’m good at instead of trying to be a hero,” Gonzalez said.
Togia felt that the position Gonzalez was put in was unfair, but a roadblock that the Vikings should have been prepared to face.
“I didn’t do my best (starting out), so I had to come up with my next at bats and I did, I executed…but I think it was especially hard for (Alesa) after that pause, because (ideally) we could’ve kept it going,” Togia said.
Anaya Togia yells in celebration after a double that led to Sienna Rievley scoring on May 9. This was one of two doubles for Togia in the game. (Ryan Hixson)
After the game, the team locked themselves into an almost hour long meeting, and Martinez assured them that the mistakes made were small setbacks.
“We had the opportunities, we just didn’t capitalize on big moments. The good news is they played their best game and beat us three to two, and we played one of our worst games and lost by one run. Harris didn’t have problems on the mound, no one was affected by the heat, and we’re looking forward to a long day tomorrow,” Martinez said.
Vikings softball is set to play the second game against El Camino on Saturday at noon.
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