Softball slumps against El Camino, Long Beach

The Lancers softball team lost their second South Coast Conference game of the season to the El Camino Warriors last Thursday.

With a rocky start, the Lancers hesitated and made simple mistakes on the field, allowing the Warriors to score on a dropped ball at home trying to end a pickle. The Warriors would score once more before the Lancers had the opportunity to respond.

“Most of the errors, while physical in nature, are due to a mental breakdown,” said head coach Monica Tantlinger about the team’s performance. “I think our team is pressing a bit. They are pressing for a win, pressing to be perfect. They need to let that go and trust a bit more.”

Leading off for the Lancers, Justine Zavala managed to get on base on a ground ball to the Warriors’ shortstop. Jackie Aguilar hit a short fly to center field before Holly Riker-Sloan would bring in Zavala on a double to center.

Aguilar tied up the game by scoring on a passed ball during Derek Blow’s at-bat, who’d then take one for the team and walk it off to first base. With Riker-Sloan and Blow on the bases, Jennifer Pegg scored Riker-Sloan on a fly out to right field, giving the Lancers a slight edge over the Warriors.

The game continued to be back and forth until the fourth inning when the Lancers took the lead by two. Their lead would only be momentary as the Lancers gave up a two-run home run at the top of the fifth inning. The fifth inning proved to be a challenge for the Lancers as they couldn’t hold up the Warriors from scoring, which would end up as the final score at the end of the seventh inning, 11-6.

The team’s face off against the Long Beach City College Vikings was unsuccessful as well. Although the Lancers hit the ball hard, they struggled to find the gaps on the field. At the end of the day, the team only had four hits, which is unusual for them.

“It’ll only get harder before it gets easier. We just have to find out rhythm n take it day by day,” said third baseman Jackie Aguilar, who is rather optimistic about the rest of the season despite the slump.

While the bats may have struggled, Cierra Newton pitched five solid innings but the odds were not in the Lancers’ favor, losing 8-1.

“I feel like if we take away that one bad inning and we find the holes that they did, the outcome of the game [would be] different,” Newton said. “Although we’re not in the best place right now, I still feel that we should still be confident in our game and know we will overcome this.”