West Torrance softball defeats El Segundo to grab share of Bay League lead (2025)

TORRANCE — The West Torrance softball team lost to El Segundo the first two times the teams met this season, and the Warriors were determined to avoid that same fate Tuesday in their Bay League meeting.

The third time proved to be the charm for West, as it won 7-4 thanks to Raleigh Chung’s four-hit game that included a three-run double, Bella Narez’s strong four-inning start and Audrey Lopetegui’s 2 2/3 relief outing.

The win moved the Warriors (17-6, 4-1) into a first-place tie with El Segundo (18-5, 4-1) with three games remaining.

“Offense was working, defense was working, all around, everyone did their part,” Lopetegui said. “It was a very good game for us.”

El Segundo won the first game against West, 3-2, in the semifinals of the TNT Tournament on March 17, and shut out West 8-0 in their first Bay League game on March 28.

Tuesday’s game had big moments for both teams.

In the fourth inning, Chung delivered a bases-clearing double that gave the Warriors a 6-2 lead. Just one batter earlier, Molly McAndrews entered to face Narez, replacing Jacy Lindsay with a 3-2 count. McAndrews struck out Narez, but was unable to get Chung, who finished the game with four RBIs.

El Segundo responded in the top of the fifth against relief pitcher Kamaile Ho with Sienna Mayer’s two-run home run to cut the deficit in half.

After a strikeout, the Eagles got back-to-back singles and West coach Jason Belcher brought in Lopetegui. However, she walked the first batter to load the bases.

Lopetegui retired the next two batters to leave the bases loaded, protecting West’s 6-4 lead.

“I trusted my defense,” Lopetegui said. “I really believed in myself and everyone behind me. I trust them 100 percent to do their job. Everyone was just working.”

El Segundo jumped out to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning on an RBI double by Marilyn McCaverty and Sullivan McLaughin’s RBI single.

After that, Narez settled in and held El Segundo scoreless for the rest of her four-inning outing.

“It’s a matter of making that big hit,” El Segundo coach T.D. Mayer said. “We got in there in that fifth inning, clawed back to make it 6-4, bases loaded, one out. Audrey (Lopetegui) is a tough pitcher.

“The first pitcher (Narez) was probably the toughest, she had a lot of spin. They threw consecutive change-ups or spins consistently. We took too many pitches and that hurt us a little bit. The first inning was big, we got thrown out at first base on a base hit to right field, who knows what the inning could be. They made plays, we didn’t and they had clutch two-out hits and we didn’t. We just got beat.”

West’s win sets up a fun end-of-the season stretch for the league title.

El Segundo hosts North (Friday), visits Torrance (April 30) and finishes league May 2 at home against South.

West visits South (Thursday) and Torrance (May 2) and hosts North (May 5).

“It’s a huge win for us, obviously with the league standings,” Belcher said. “It’s a good rivalry to have and good teams push good teams. I don’t think we performed as well as we could have in the first two games and today was a much better effort, more of a look at what our team really is.”

Originally Published: April 22, 2025 at 7:17 PM PDT