It takes about two hours to drive from El Centro to San Diego when you’re transporting two vans filled with nervous, squawking, hyped-up teenage girls. That’s how long it took Southwest El Centro’s softball team to commute to Canyon Hills High School in Tierrasanta on Wednesday.
It was a business trip, the Eagles taking on Canyon Hills in a CIF San Diego Section Division 3 semifinal playoff game. Had Southwest lost, the Eagles, no doubt with sour dispositions, would have loaded back in the vans, trekked home, then turned around to make the same trip again on Thursday to play an elimination game against Canyon Hills.
“I knew it would be easier if we got this one game out of the way,” said Southwest freshman pitcher Alexis Trujillo. “If we’d have lost, the car ride back would have been hard.”
Instead, it was a raucous ride home, Southwest celebrating a 4-0 win over Canyon Hills that vaulted the Eagles into Saturday’s championship game against Olympian at UC San Diego.
“When we got released out of class and got in the vans, we were all hyped up, cheering each other on,” said junior shortstop Kaydence Wiewel. “Then when we got here, we were mentally and physically locked in.”
No one was more focused than Trujillo. She pitched a complete game, allowing just four hits and one walk. The freshman is not overpowering, as evidenced by her not recording a strikeout. But she didn’t rattle and let her defense do the heavy lifting.
“Oh, she was tremendous,” said coach Joel Manzano, who teaches science at Southwest. “She’s kept us in every softball game all year long. When she’s in the circle we know we have a chance.”
Trujillo weathered three threats. She had a runner at third with two outs in the first and induced a fly ball to left. In the third inning, she had runners on second and third and got a line drive to the first baseman and fly ball to right field.
With two on and two out in the fifth, she got a ground ball to shortstop.
The Eagles made numerous excellent plays behind Trujillo. Left fielder Emilie Marquez made a running catch in foul territory. Wiewel cleanly fielded a couple of hot smashes. The visitors (19-8) committed just one error.
Southwest took a 1-0 lead in the fifth on a triple by freshman Nicole Verdugo and a double by Monet Zavala. The Eagles tacked on three runs in the sixth, piecing together three hits, an error and squeeze play that scored a run.
Wiewel went 2-for-4 and is now hitting .449 with team bests of 38 RBI and 30 runs. Trujillo improved to 7-2 and lowered her ERA to 2.47.
The unlucky losing pitcher for Canyon Hills (19-10) was senior Natalye Debus. Bound for Manhattan College, Debus struck out nine. Debus pitched every inning this season for the Rattlers and finished with 317 strikeouts in 191 innings.
But it will be Southwest El Centro playing for the D3 title come 4 p.m. Saturday. The Eagles have hung one CIF championship banner in softball. It came in 2018 and Manzano’s sister, Iliana, played on the team.
As friends and family celebrated with the players on the field, Manzano took in the scene.
“Oh man,” she said, “this means a ton.”
