With an early share of first place in the South Coast Conference on the line Tuesday, the Cerritos College softball team defeated El Camino College, 1-0 on Tuesday at Nancy Kelly Field. The win by the Falcons (10-3, 5-0) keeps them in first place in conference play along with Mt. San Antonio College, while the Warriors fell to 10-5 and 3-1. The team will now play 13 of their next 14 games on the road, with the next game on Thursday against Los Angeles Harbor College in a conference game.

Scoreless through the first four and half innings, Cerritos scored their only run in the fifth inning. With two outs, freshman outfielder Jasmine Javier (Cerritos HS) singled to center fielder. Freshman pinch-hitter Karissa Hamilton (Long Beach Wilson HS) was hit by a pitch to keep the inning alive. That allowed freshman shortstop Jenny Collazo (Paramount HS) to step up and lace a double to left field that drove in Javier. Sophomore Monique Ramirez (Torrance HS), who re-entered the game, was thrown out at the plate for the third out of the game.

Freshman pitcher Jennifer Navarro (Warren HS) improved her record to 7-0 on the season, as she limited the Warriors to just five hits. El Camino had runners at first and second base in the third inning, but Kristen Romero flew out to end the stanza. In the fourth inning, Marissa Padilla grounded out to strand a pair of runners on base. Navarro struck out seven batters on the day.

Photos by Daryl Peterson