Eagles Walk Away With Doubleheader Sweep of El Toro in Softball

Santa Margarita got a complete-game shutout and a grand slam from senior pitcher Amy Letourneau to win the first game of a double-header, 7-0, over El Toro, and then got a walk-off walk in the bottom of the seventh inning for a 5-4 victory in the second game to sweep the Chargers in a nonleague softball game Thursday afternoon at Santa Margarita High.

The first game was a pitcher’s duel early on, with Letourneau and El Toro senior MacKenzie Sanderson totally in control in the first two innings. Sanderson had four strikeouts in the first two innings, including striking out the side in the second, after giving up a leadoff double to sophomore catcher Danyelle Doucette.

But in the third inning, after Santa Margarita senior outfielder Maddie Sykes led off with a single, the Chargers allowed another runner to reach base on an error to give the Eagles two on with no outs. After a teammates' line out to first base, Letourneau lined a single for a 2-0 Eagle lead.

Letourneau would come around to score on another error to make it 3-0 heading into the fourth inning. The Chargers (5-5-1) were able to set the Eagles (7-1) down in order in the fourth, thanks in part, to a runner getting tagged out after momentarily making an aggressive move to try and advance to second.

Meanwhile, the Chargers' offense struggled to put pressure on Letourneau in the circle.

Sanderson work out of trouble in the fifth inning by getting a strikeout with the bases loaded to end a threat, but was not as fortunate in the sixth. The Eagles loaded the bases with two outs and then Letourneau yanked the first pitch she saw deep over the left-field fence to give the Eagles a 7-0 lead.

“The first game we came out a little slow," El Toro senior shortstop Lauren Chaberlain said. "It definitely wasn’t the result we were looking for, but the second game we really battled back.”

In the second game, the Chargers jumped to a quick lead when Chamberlain smacked a two-out home run over the right-field fence in the top of the first inning. El Toro added three more runs in the third inning after walks to Chamberlain and sophomore infielder Taylor Rabkin put runners in scoring position with two outs. Sophomore catcher Lauren Barras then lined a single to center to push the lead to 3-0.

Junior infielder Jessica Arreola followed with a single to the left-center field gap to drive in another run but she was thrown out trying to stretch the hit into a double.

Santa Margarita got on the board in the bottom of the third with two runs, highlighted by an RBI-triple by junior utility player Jessie Dauton. In the bottom the sixth, freshman utility player Ali Prukap walked and later scored to cut the Eagles' deficit to 4-3.

In the bottom of the seventh, Letourneau led off the inning with a solo home run to right to tie the score. Two outs later, the Eagles got two walks and a hit batter to load the bases. Freshman outfielder Lindsey Hundley then drew a walk to give the Eagles a 5-4 victory.

Santa Margarita coach John FitzPatrick said the experience factor has helped his team, ranked No. 10 in the CIF Southern Section coaches' poll, to be able to handle tough game situations.

“This year I have a lot of seniors and they've  play a lot of games ," FitzPatrick said. "And they stay loose.”