Second Place Race Heats Up In South Coast Softball
While Mt. San Antonio College winning another South Coast Conference softball title could very well be a foregone conclusion even in early March, second place in the SCC is another story. Four teams are jockeying for the spot as of today.
Ranked #1 in the state in the recent coach's poll. Mt. SAC (16-1) is 8-0 to top the SCC through the first third of the schedule. No other conference team was rated in the Top 15, but El Camino was ninth in the SoCal Region Top 10. The Mounties have won 34 straight conference-counting games dating back to 2018.
East Los Angeles is currently tied with Pasadena City for second place with identical 6-3 SCC records. ELAC has won four straight while PCC is on a 5-game victory march.
El Camino is a game at hand in fourth at 5-3 while Long Beach City is a half game back in fifth at 6-4. Bottom line, all four of the teams are battling for the second spot. An improved Rio Hondo is sixth (3-5) but had a big 8-6 win over Pasadena back on Feb. 20. Even seventh-place Cerritos is no easy opponent despite a 2-6 SCC mark. The Falcons have had a number of close conference losses, including holding a 3-1 lead over Mt. SAC as late as the sixth inning before losing to the Mounties, 5-3, on Feb. 20.
Eighth-place Compton got on the SCC win board with a 14-7 triumph over LA Harbor, which was able to get a team together finally under a newly-hired head coach Shawnae Campbell. The Seahawks played their season opener on Feb. 20.
Long Beach shortstop Jade Wittman leads the state in batting with a .700 average and in on-base percentage (.727), plus has 16 RBI. PCC shortstop Danielle Ruiz is third in the state in stolen bases with 17 and sixth in the SCC in batting with a .449 mark while pitcher Austyn Helmuth is the state leader in saves with four while leading the conference in overall innings pitched at 65.2.
Mt. SAC hurler Alexia Silva has an 8-0 record, a SCC best 1.12 ERA (pitchers with 30 or more innings) and is the conference leader in strikeouts with 44 in 43.2 innings pitched. Mounties centerfielder Nicole Siess is a SCC Player of the Year candidate, batting .500 with conference highs in home runs (six, tied with teammate and catcher Alyssa Martinez) and RBI (23). El Camino pitcher Elizabeth Cortez has compiled a 7-1 record and a 2.56 ERA in 43.2 innings.
Shortstop/utility player Eliza Flores has paced East LA with a .395 average, three homers and 18 RBI. Rio Hondo shortstop Kelly Monroy has been the Roadrunners' top producer with a .379 average, two HRs and 20 RBI. Cerritos leftfielder Itzel Soto is third in the conference in batting (.488) and has slugged four home runs. Compton outfielder Derrin Atwood is hitting a team-best .294 and has 12 stolen bases, second in the SCC.
Conference Stat Leaders, at link
https://southcoastconf.com/sports/sball/2019-20/leaders