Elco celebrates rare rivalry sweep

Senior right-hander Jacob Soto finished off the trifecta Friday afternoon at Colt Field. Soto struck out the side in the seventh inning to close out El Camino’s 9-3 win, securing the Glove trophy.

“It meant a lot,” Soto said. “I didn’t think about it too much because we had a decent lead. So, it was just: Come in and get the job done. But I wanted this a lot.”

The Colts also won the boys’ basketball rivalry game Feb. 8 with a 46-42 victory over the Warriors to earn the Net trophy. On Nov. 3, 2018, EC took back the coveted Bell trophy with a 41-15 win over South City on the gridiron.

It has been a down year for South City boys’ athletics, starting with a winless season in football. The basketball team followed with an 8-15 overall record, including a 3-9 mark in league play to finish in sixth place in the PAL North Division.

The South City baseball team is off to a 0-3 start this season, with everyone in the Warriors dugout Friday knowing a potential three-sport sweep was imminent.

“They are aware of that,” South City manager John Selvitella said. “We’re all aware of it. I can’t express how much it hurts.”

Adding insult to injury, the Warriors were done in by senior Levi Stubbles, who transferred from South City to El Camino after his sophomore year. Stubbles proved a menace against his former team Friday, going 3 for 4 with three RBIs and a run scored.

El Camino’s first-year varsity manager Casey Owen has his team off to a 3-1 start. And Stubbles is a big reason why. The athletic 6-1 shortstop is batting .583 (7 for 12) on the year, and also figures to be the Colts’ ace on the mound.

Owen served as El Camino’s junior-varsity for the past two years. And while he didn’t manage Stubbles until this season, he recalls the excitement when the cornerstone talent moved across town to EC in 2018.

“I think everybody was excited to have him,” Owen said. “He’s a quality player. He’s played great … and he’s definitely a team leader.”

While Stubbles registered three hits in his final three at-bats, his most impressive plate appearance came in the first inning on an RBI groundout to shortstop.

Leadoff hitter Matt Dayao opened the first with a single to left against South City starting pitcher Erik Leonor, then stole his first two bases of the year by swiping second and third. He went on to total four steals in the game.

With one out, Stubbles came within a few feet of hitting his first home run of the year on a 1-1 pitch with a booming shot down the left-field line, but it curled foul. On the following 1-2 offering, Stubbles shortened up and turned in a clutch situational swing by driving home Dayao with a groundout toward the middle of the infield.

“I was going to try to go to the right side, just try to get the job done,” Stubbles said.

Soto extended the lead to 3-0 later in the inning. After back-to-back walks by Justin Vargas and Josue Iniguez, Soto lifted a fly ball to center field that would be a can of corn for South City center fielder Frank House in any other PAL ball park. At El Camino, however, with the short center-field fence just 270 feet from home plate, the ball hit up the fence just out of House’s reach to go for a two-run double.

“Personally, I would love to get the field fixed,” Soto said of the short porch. “But since this is our home park we try to use it as an advantage.”

El Camino starting pitcher Ryan Thompson worked 3 2/3 innings to earn the win, and had to escape a jam in the third inning to do so.

South City sparked a two-out rally on back-to-back single by Daniel Marroquin and Dominic Cayabyab. Then House, batting out of the cleanup spot, returned the favor with a high shot off the center field wall to plate both base runners, cutting El Camino’s lead to 3-2.

The Colts got the runs back in the bottom of the inning, though. Noel Valdez and Stubbles led off the frame with back-to-back singles. Both runners moved up on a groundout by Vargas, with the South City shortstop Marroquin making a nice charging play and a throw on the run to get the out at first. But EC cashed in when Josue Iniquez shot a two-run single to center to up the lead to 5-2.

Thompson departed in the sixth after yielding an RBI single to sophomore Jaden Francisco. But once reliever Justin Keegan entered, the EC bullpen would face just one batter over the minimum through 3 1/3 innings. Keegan worked 2 1/3, with four strikeouts and a walk, though the lone runner was wiped out on a double play in the fifth.

The Warriors totaled five hits on the day. They opened the year with a 9-3 loss to San Mateo, totaling just two hits in the game. They then dropped a 14-4 decision to Terra Nova.

“We’re alright,” Selvitella said of the Warriors’ bats. “We’re scoring runs and putting the ball in play. Teams are just scoring runs against us.”

After EC added two runs in the fourth and two more in the sixth. Soto then struck out three and walked one in the seventh to end it.

The game was El Camino’s first since Feb. 23 due to a slew of rain postponements.

“There’s definitely some rust there,” Owen said. “So it was good to have this kind of game to shake of that rust.”