The incredible turnaround season for the Compton College softball team continues into postseason play as it earned the #14 seed for the Southern California Regional Playoffs.
Compton finished the regular season with a 21-16 overall record and placed fifth in the difficult South Coast Conference at 9-12 under second-year head coach Victoria Castillo.
Compton plays at #3 seed and Pacific Coast Athletic Conference champion Palomar (35-4) in a best-of-3-game, first round series on Friday-Saturday, May 3-4.
The opener is at 2 p.m. on Friday, then game #2 is 12 noon on Saturday. If the series is tied at 1-1, there will be a third and deciding game within 20 minutes following the second game on Saturday.
For those wanting to attend the games at Palomar (located near San Diego): Address: 1140 W Mission Rd, San Marcos, CA 92069
Games can be viewed via Palomar's live stream
To show how tough the SCC was this season, the higher seeds coming out of the conference were first-place Mt. San Antonio at #4, third-place El Camino #5, second-place Long Beach City #6, and fourth-place Cerritos #9.
FOUR PLAYERS EARN ALL-SOUTH COAST CONFERENCE HONORS
Compton was excited with the news that four players were selected to the All-South Coast Conference Team.
Freshman first baseman Serena Velez earned First Team honors after batting seventh in overall batting in the conference with .442 average, 11 doubles and 24 RBI.
Making All-SCC Second Team was freshman shortstop Venezia Uribe, who batted .314, was second in the SCC with 16 doubles, belted two home runs and added 16 RBI.
All-Conference honorable mentions went to 2-year letterman, pitcher-third baseman Destiny Vega and sophomore outfielder Danielle Varela.
Vega batted .345 with nine doubles, one home run and led the team in RBI with 29. In the pitching circle, she put up an 11-9 record with six complete games in 113.1 innings pitched.
Varela hit .299 with two triples and eight RBI while providing stellar defense with a .976 fielding percentage and three outfield assists.
REGULAR SEASON HIGHLIGHTS
Compton played South Coast champion Mt. San Antonio the toughest of any conference opponent, winning the SCC opener (previous story here), and nearly beating the Mounties again on April 4.
In that home game, Compton led 2-1 and had Mt. SAC down to its final out in the seventh inning, but All-SCC First Team third baseman Janis Espinoza tied the game on a RBI single and Mt. SAC rallied for five more runs in the eighth to defeat Compton, 7-2.
The squad lost its 2024 season opener, then rattled off an impressive 10-game winning streak.
Compton was 8-3 in games decided by one run in the regular season, including an 8-7, walk-off win over East Los Angeles on April 11. Frosh catcher Audrey Garcia delivered the game-winning RBI hit to score Varela with two outs in the bottom of the seventh.
Velez had a 4-for-4 day with four runs scored and two doubles in a 15-5 win over Pasadena City on April 5.
On April 6, Vega pitched an impressive, eight-inning, 3-hit shutout over Mt. San Jacinto, 1-0. Compton scored the game-winner in the extra frame on sophomore Jasmine Flores' RBI single.