Vaqueros’ Thorne Hits For The Cycle

By Adam Paul
Updated: March 21, 2024

2024 EAST COUNTY PREP SOFTBALL

By Adam Paul

CHULA VISTA – In quite the feat on Thursday, El Capitan’s Aubrey Thorne accomplished an impressive feat in the 13-1 tournament road victory in 5 innings over Mar Vista.

Thorne led the Vaqueros as she cycled her way to a 4-for-4 day at the plate which included driving in 5 runs and scoring three times. She would start off scratching the hardest off the list first with a triple in the first inning, singled in the second, doubled in the fifth, and homered in the third inning over the left field fence.

Domonique Garcia (2-3, 2 R, RBI, SB) drove in the game’s first run, Thorne tripled in two runs, Alanna Christiaens (3-4, 3 R, 3 RBI, 2 2B, HR, SB) doubled in a run, and Kameron McDaniel drove in a run.

A couple of innings later the Vaqueros added five more runs to lead 11-1. Kyle Frazier contributed with two runs driven in, Thorne’s home run scored two more ad Christiaens blasted a solo home run.

Shelby Vars picked up the win for El Capitan allowing one run on two hits over five innings while walking six and striking out four in the game.

El Capitan is now 4-6-4 overall.

WEST HILLS 5, PATRICK HENRY 3 – Four runs scored by West Hills over the sixth and seventh innings complete their rally on Thursday in non-league action.

Faith Balestreri with the game scoreless in the top of the fourth inning would break the scoreless contest as she drove in a run to give West Hills a 1-0 lead.

However, Izzy Ervin would tie up the contest on a single to right field to bring home Brooke Taylor.

Patrick Henry would extend their lead in the bottom of the fifth inning when Zoe Rutherford doubled in McKenna Geiger and later with two outs Kayla Free walked to bring home Belle Will to give them a 3-1 lead.

Trailing by a couple of runs the Wolf Pack in the top of the sixth inning would cut into the deficit as they took advantage of a two-out error by the Patriots. Ava Goodman would hit a ball to short that was misplayed allowing Katy Spargo to plate to make it 3-2.

Spargo again for West Hills worked some magic as she drove in Amaya Angeli in the top of the seventh inning to tie the game at 3-3 and was followed by a Balestreri base hit scoring Kristina Deal to make it 4-3. The Pack would tack on another run on an error that scored Spargo.

Goodman picked up the win for the Pack as she went five innings allowing three runs on nine hits while walking four and striking out five.

Rutherford for Patrick Henry would allow five runs on 10 hits over six and two-thirds innings while striking out four.

West Hills is now 5-5-1 while Patrick Henry is 5-5.

HELIX 10, CLAIREMONT 1 – Ta’Tiannah Wright’s clutchness at the plate helped the Helix Highlanders to victory on Thursday in Hilltop Tournament action.

Wright on the day would drive in five runs including a two-run double in the sixth inning and an RBI single in the fifth inning.

Lauren Farace was also a big contributor for Helix as she went 4-for-4 including four runs scored. Her offensive performance included a double and a triple.

Helix on the day offensively pounded out 13 hits including three doubles by Wright, Farace, and Maliyah Domingo.

Katelyn Wood earned the victory for Helix. On the day she gave up one run on four hits while striking out eight and walking two.

Helix evens their overall record at 6-6 with the win.

STEELE CANYON 7, HOLTVILLE 1 – Steele Canyon bookended their road win down in the Valley with a big sixth inning on Thursday to claim the Hilltop tournament contest.

Having scored three runs in the bottom of the first inning the Cougars later would follow that up with four runs in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Lauren Becker in the sixth inning for the Cougars would double in a pair of runs as would Makenzie Myers who followed Becker’s double.

Marina Gonzalez belted a three-run home run in the first inning for Steele Canyon deep over the center-field fence that scored both Hailey Trujillo and Kamea Seunarine.

Bailey Evans garnered the win for Steele Canyon as she went five innings allowing zero runs and two hits while walking two and striking out four.

Steele Canyon now winners of five in a row move to 7-3-1 overall.

CHRISTIAN 4, PT. LOMA 0 – Dominant pitching by Christian’s Ava Barrios as she fans 12-pointers on the day to give the Patriots the Hilltop tournament road win on Thursday.

Barrios went all seven innings in which she shut down the Pointers allowing only five hits in the victory.

Despite the shutdown pitching by Barrios the offense of the Patriots wouldn’t break through until the top of the sixth inning.

Tyler Krystek who singled with one out would eventually make it to third where on a wild pitch she would come into score to make it 1-0.

Christian would add a couple of insurance runs in the top of the seventh inning courtesy of Sienna Staite who drove in Lily Reyes on a base hit and later in the inning Tyler Krystek hit a ball that was misplayed allowing Staite to score and also Giselle Colmenero to score as well.

Colmenero, Staite, Lucy Sherburne, Tyler Krystek, Kaitlyn Moody and Kayleigh Martin all had hits for Christian.

The Patriots continue with their streak to push the winning streak to five games and move to 10-0-1 which is their best start since 2017 when they started 8-1-1 in a season they finished 26-9 that culminated in a CIF Division III championship.

LA COSTA CANYON 5, GRANITE HILLS 2 – Despite 7 hits the Granite Hills offense could only muster a pair of runs in the road loss on Thursday.

Granite Hills would score their two runs in the fifth and sixth innings. Driving in those runs were Alexis Mujica and Kaleigh Bougher who went 2-for-3 at the plate for the Eagles.

Granite Hills falls to 4-5 overall.

#1 DEL NORTE 5, SANTANA 3 – Despite outhitting the top-ranked Del Norte Nighthawks the Santana Sultans couldn’t take advantage in the loss on Thursday.

Del Norte who came into the contest as the top-ranked team according to the latest Union-Tribune Coaches/Media poll put together a three-run second inning and used that to spur themselves to victory.

The victory by the Nighthawks wasn’t easy as the Sultans early would take a 1-0 lead when Emma Schneider blasted a two-out solo home run deep to left field.

Momentum for the Sultans only lasted a short time as Del Norte behind three singles scored three times in the top of the second to take a 3-1 lead.

Santana would cut into the deficit starting with back-to-back singles by Kaitlyn Ruckle and McKenna Miller which was followed by an RBI single by Vanessa Ryan that scored Kylee Aziz who came into run for Ruckle to make it 3-2.

Miller who had three hits in the game would in the bottom of the third inning trailing 4-2 would hit a ball that was misplayed by Del Norte that would bring home Schneider who had singled earlier in the inning.

Santana with the loss drops to 7-6 overall.