#13 Softball Plays Hard, But Eliminated By #4 Palomar In Playoffs

Heart and determination won't be found in the box scores, but the No. 13 seed Pasadena City College softball team put the scare into No. 4 host Palomar before being eliminated in the first round of the Southern California Regional Playoffs best-of-3 series, 2-games-0. The Lancers lost in the last at bats in the 7th inning, 5-4, to Palomar on Friday and then went 10 innings with the Comets before losing, 4-3, in the season finale Saturday morning.

Pasadena's season ended at 25-15-1 while Palomar advances in the regionals with a 28-11 record. It was the Lancers first postseason games since 2006 and first under head coach Monica Tantlinger.

PCC led favored Palomar in both defeats. In the extra-inning loss, the Lancers took a 3-1 lead after four innings with help on RBI at-bats by second baseman Alex Howard and designated player Brittany Gonzales. The Comets rallied with two runs in the sixth to tie it and the game went into extra innings at 3-3. 

On Saturday, Madisyn Turman led off the 10th inning with a single and was replaced by pinch-runner Taylor Willis. After a pop out, pitcher Crystal DesLauriers doubled off the left field fence to put runners on second and third. Lexi Williams then ended the game with a bloop single to left that scored Willis, closing PCC's season.

Pica Madrid pitched valiantly for the Lancers, scattering 13 hits over 8.1 innings in keeping the Lancers in the game. Angel Wintercorn pitched in relief in the sixth inning, but Madrid came back in to throw scoreless frames in the seventh, eighth, and ninth. 

PCC had a chance to take the lead in the 10th after one-out singles by Gonzales and Johnson. But DesLauriers got Alex Howard to hit into a fielder's choice and struck out Bree Howard to end the threat.

On Friday, it was Willis who hit a walk-off single into the right field corner for the win in game 1. The Lancers led that contest 3-0 going thanks to three runs in the top of the third inning. Shortstop Karina Moreno hit a RBI single, then Gonzales drew a bases-loaded walk, and first baseman Torrey Johnson delivered a run-scoring single PCC fell behind 4-3, but tied it in the top of the seventh when Alex Howard reached on a third baseman's error that scored leftfielder Jasmine Cabrera, who walked earlier in the inning. 

Gonzales led PCC's hitting at 2-for-3 with a walk while Cabrera was 1-for-1 with two walks. Palomar's DesLauriers upped her pitching record to 22-5 and helped her own cause by batting 4-for-5.

Tantlinger talked about her team's playoff experience. "The fact that we kept Palomar to only nine runs total over 17 innings, or more than than two games, when it averaged 8.7 a game this year was huge," she said.

"We put runners on base but we just couldn't drive them in. I'm so proud of how we competed with a No. 4 seed. We belonged out there and proved it. It was a terrific season for the program and I want to thank the assistant coaching staff for all of their efforts. The players showed tremendous fight and should be proud of making the playoffs. In the regular season, we played some great games including our big win over Cerritos. We had some tight games against both El Camino and Mt. San Antonio that went down to the final at bats."

Shortstop Karina Moreno, a two All-South Coast Conference First Team selection, ended her PCC career after setting a school record for runs scored in a season (48) and leading the Lancers in hits (47), stolen bases (18) and triples (six). In the pitching circle, letterman Madrid went 12-9 for the season with a 2.93 ERA in 117 innings pitched. The freshman Cabrera led the team in batting at .404 and on-base percentage at .459, first-year first baseman Bree Howard led in home runs with seven, and rookie Alex Howard led in RBI with 34.