On two separate occasions, the Cerritos College softball team opened up big leads against visiting El Camino College in their South Coast Conference game at Nancy Kelly Field on Thursday. The Falcons held a 5-1 and 11-5 leads before settling on an 11-8 win over the Warriors. The team will now host a pair of games on Saturday, as they face Palomar College at noon and then a 2:30 p.m. game against Orange Coast College.

With the game tied at 5-5 after two innings, Cerritos (17-5, 7-1) scored twice in the bottom of the third inning. With one out, sophomore outfielder Jezeree Misaalefua (Carson HS/Long Beach CC) singled and advanced to second base on a wild pitch. A two-out walk to sophomore Raquel Norzagaray (Pioneer HS) was followed by consecutive RBI singles from sophomore third baseman Camille Manzo (La Serna HS/Sterling (KS) College) and freshman outfielder Kimberly Olivas (Warren HS).

Sophomore Jenny Navarro (Warren HS), who came on in relief starting the fourth inning, was spotted four more runs in the sixth inning for an 11-5 advantage. But the Warriors (13-8, 5-3) scratched their way for three runs in the top of the seventh inning before an aggressive baserunning error accounted for the third out and ended the game. With one run already in and the bases loaded, Rae Camez doubled home two more runs, but was caught up between second and third base and was tagged out by Norzagaray for the third out.

In the bottom of the sixth inning, Olivas led off with a triple, with Navarro drawing a walk. After an RBI single from sophomore second baseman Jenny Collazo (Paramount HS), freshman Jissel Caballero (Warren HS) collected her first hit of the season. The runners were going to hold up to load the bases, but when Camez overran the ball in center field, it allowed both Navarro and Collazo to score.

Collazo finished the day 4-for-4 with two RBI, while Misaalefua was 3-for-4 with two RBI. Navarro earned her first save of the year, with Caballero picking up the win with her 1/3 innings of work.

Photos by Daryl Peterson