Cerritos 3rd Different School In 3 Seasons To Win South Coast Softball Title
Cerritos College broke a 12-year drought and became the third different school in three years to win the coveted South Coast Conference softball championship, clinching with an 18-3 league record.
The Falcons, currently ranked #5 in the state, won their 10th in the program's history that goes back to the first SCC title in the sport they won in 1978.
They follow Long Beach City winning in 2025 and Mt. San Antonio grabbing the '24 crrown.
Cerritos (31-9 overall) lost the season series v. LBCC, ranked #4 at 29-9, losing two of three matchups, but the Vikings ended up finishing in a tie for third place with El Camino (both 15-6) and were behind second-place Mt. SAC (16-5).
After starting the season at 1-3, the Falcons caught fire at the beginning of SCC play in running off a 10-game win streak (half of those v. South Coast opponents). After a 3-game losing string in mid-March, Cerritos put together a 14-game win streak, including a remarkable six 1-run wins over El Camino, Southwestern, East Los Angeles, #12 Mt. SAC, Canyons and LA Mission.
Cerritos is 8-2 in games decided by a single run.
The Mounties (29-11) were an outstanding 21-2 to begin the year, but ran into a slump of their own in a 1-6 stretch that included two losses to Cerritos, one v. Long Beach and another v. ELAC. They used a 12-2 win over El Camino (26-14) to capture second as the Warriors knocked off Long Beach, 5-3, in eight innings on April 21 to grab a share of third place.
LA Harbor (21-20 overall) took fifth place with a 4-2 win over sixth place East LA (22-16) on April 22.
Compton took seventh and Rio Hondo placed eighth to round out the 8-team league.
Long Beach sophomore catcher Zara Mineo was awarded Most Valuable Player, Cerritos sophomore workhorse Tatyana Cortez Pitcher of the Year, and Falcons head coach Kodee Murray was named Coach of the Year for the second straight season and third time in the last four years. The awards were selected at Friday's SCC Postseason Coaches Meeting held at Compton College.
Mineo led the SCC in a number of hitting categories including conference batting champion (.541), on-base percentage (.582), slugging percentage (1.064), triples (eight), doubles (17) and runs scored (51). She powered eight home runs and 43 RBI. It's the third straight season that a Viking was recognized as conference MVP.
Cortez pitched a brilliant 26-6 overall record and a 2.13 ERA in 181 innings pitched, leading the state in strikeouts with 227.
While the SoCal seedings won't be announced until this weekend, at press time, Cerritos, Mt. SAC, Long Beach and El Camino all will receive berths for the Regional Playoffs.
Mineo
Release by Robert Lewis, SCC SID