Two minutes.
12 innings of sheer endurance, gutsy plays, clutch hits.
Two overturned calls.
One game-winning walk-off hit.
That's just yet another chapter in the book of what has been a two-decades long rivalry between San Pedro High and Carson softball on Tuesday at the San Pedro High John M. & Muriel Olguin Campus.
A Marine League game that had league title implications early ended on one swing of the bat by senior center fielder Sicily James who was 0-for-4 with two strikeouts and a sacrifice bunt... and she comes through on the first pitch she sees blasting a scorching drive to right-center field, plating sophomore left fielder Breya Ventura to cap off another vintage comeback in the annals of the annual battles between the Pirates and the Colts, this one ending in a come-from-behind 4-3 victory for San Pedro.
After scoring a pair of two-out runs on a double in the top of the twelfth inning, Carson (4-10) finally chased San Pedro senior starting pitcher Layla Jelenic from the game after she struck out 16 in a gutsy performance, scattering three runs on eight hits and ten walks, tossing an astonishing 227 pitches before exiting with the bases loaded. Junior pitcher Bella Miller promptly retired the Colts' next batter to prevent further damage.
And then... came the bottom of the twelfth inning.
Junior shortstop Madison Fao led off with a full count walk for San Pedro after being intentionally walked in the seventh and ninth innings, then after a throwing error from third triggered by a ground ball hit by junior first baseman Izzie Galan, Fao managed to score from first base, cutting the Pirates' deficit down to a single run. Two pitches later, sophomore left fielder Breya Ventura drives in Galan with a single to even the score at 3-3.
Sophomore catcher Bri Rodela's drag bunt single followed by a critical full count base on balls drawn by senior pinch-hitter Alicia Gonzalez loaded the bases for James, who wasted little time in putting a capper on what was a spectacular finish to a wild contest.
Pacing San Pedro (5-4 overall, 2-0 league) besides the heroics of both James and Jelenic, was sophomore shortstop Katie Borges who went 2-for-5 with a walk, a stolen base and a run scored, an RBI-single that brought in Borges compliments of senior right fielder Izabella Chavez in the third inning for the game's first run, and sophomore catcher Bri Rodela who singled in her last two at-bats after going 0-for-4, also catching a runner stealing second base for the first out of the game.
Ventura also went 0-for-5 before her clutch RBI-hit in the bottom of the twelfth, plus Fao, Jelenic, Galan and senior third baseman Marissa Markel also added a hit each for San Pedro, who will next host Harbor Area neighbor Banning of Wilmington on Thursday in another league showdown.
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