In arguably the greatest pitching performance ever by a Pasadena City College softball pitcher made by sophomore ace Angel Wintercorn, it was Amanda "Walk-Off" Flores once again driving in a game-ending run as the Lancers edged visiting East Los Angeles, 2-1, in eight innings on Monday.
The Lancers are 25-14 overall and clinched second place in the SCC North Division for the second straight season at 8-4. PCC closes out the 2018 regular season in an non-conference game at Moorpark on Wednesday, April 25.
Wintercorn (11-5) started off looking like it could be a tough day when ELAC's Monet Manning blasted the game's first pitch well over the left-center field fence for the Huskies' only run. But from that point on, Wintercorn put on a clinic. She retired an amazing 23 batters in a row, enough for a perfect game plus two outs, before giving up a single to center in the eighth to Sara Serrano. She faced just 26 batters over eight innings and struck out nine.
Wintercorn stole some of the thunder away from one of the most clutch players on any team in any season in the freshman first baseman Flores. In the bottom of the eighth, PCC loaded the bases for Flores, who hit a soft liner that was misjudged by ELAC second baseman Samantha Alvarado who dove for the ball. Alvarado trapped the ball that resulted in an infield hit as Briana Hernandez crossed the plate for the winning run. Incredibly, it was Flores' fourth walk-off RBI this season and second in an extra-inning game in the past six days.
PCC's bats were slowed down by East LA starting pitcher Angelita Villavazo who blanked the Lancers over the first five innings, twice getting out of bases-loaded jams in the fourth and fifth. In the sixth, Pasadena tied it at 1-1. Catcher Jeneve Medrano singled and eventually came around to score on third baseman Angelica Lopez', two-out line single to center.
Villavazo scattered six hits and walked nine batters before being replaced with two runners on in the eighth.
Medrano and Lopez (double) each went 2-for-4. Flores was 1-for-2 and walked three times while Hernandez was 1-for-3 with two walks.
"We played six games over seven days due to rain make-ups, so it was tough but we stayed resilient," said PCC head coach Monica Tantlinger. "We needed a good pitching performance and we got a great one. When you pitch like Angel did, it just takes one soft liner for a walk-off. Amanda just keeps coming up in these important situations and it's like you almost know she will come through."
The playoff-bound Lancers are No. 13 in SoCal RPI and have won 25 games for the second straight season.