Beckman’s Sarah Mikami delivers a pitch to Northwood’s Miranda Mell during Monday’s PCL game (Photo: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).
Beckman’s softball team inched closer to capturing the Pacific Coast League title defeating Northwood 7-3 Monday afternoon at Northwood.
The Patriots can win the title outright with a victory on Wednesday against University. Beckman (15-10, 8-1) has a one-game lead over second place Woodbridge (13-12-1, 7-2).
“This was obviously a very important game to come in and get the W at the end, there’s no doubt,” said Beckman Coach Lou Simon. “We made it a little too exciting than we wanted to but a win is a win. It was a big win for us today.”
“At the end of the day we have to win the next game and then we have whatever is coming. We haven’t won anything yet until we finish the season.”
Beckman parlayed four hits and two Northwood errors to score four runs in the third inning and break open a scoreless game.
“We always talk about hitting hard ground balls and line drives and smart base-running and there were also a couple mistakes that we took advantage of and got lucky,” Simon said.
Jade Costa drove in a run with a bad-hop single, Madison Simon drove in two runs with a double and Maya Puente had an RBI single.
The Patriots added another run in the fourth inning. Megan Mikami singled, stole two bases and eventually came around to score on an error.
Beckman extended its lead to 7-0 with two runs in the sixth inning. Jenna Le had an RBI single and the Patriots capitalized on two more Northwood errors to score another run.
In the bottom of the sixth inning, Northwood broke the shutout bid by Beckman starter Sarah Mikami. With two outs, Miranda Mell singled and scored on a triple by Allison Morikawa. Emma McMurray followed with an RBI single and McMurray later scored on an error.
But Mikami was able to work out of trouble and finished the game without any more runs scoring. She struck out eight and allowed six hits.
“She did a phenomenal job. Sarah Mikami, a freshman, has grown a lot as the season has moved along,” Simon said. “She has a lot of control and a lot of different movement on her pitches and was able to keep her calm.”
Beckman’s lead-off hitter Megan Mikami had two hits and scored two runs. Costa was 3 for 4 with two runs scored and an RBI, Le was 2 for 3 with a run scored and an RBI and Simon was 2 for 3 with a run scored and an RBI.
McMurray started on the mound for Northwood but was victimized by five errors. Northwood (8-16-1, 5-4) is battling Irvine for third place in the league.
-Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com
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