Pacoima-raised co-captains Adriana Vasquez Duran and Emily Sandoval lead Arleta High to its first CIF City Section Division II title and a matchup against top-seeded Madison in the regional playoffs.
Two Pacoima Middle School graduates are leading their high school softball team through its most successful season ever.
Adriana Vasquez Duran and , senior co-captains of the softball team, captured the school's first last week with an 11-to-0 shutout of LA Marshall. The victory sent the Bulldogs into the CIF Southern California regional playoffs as the No. 9 seed in Division IV.
The two players attended Pacoima Middle School together and have been inseparable since playing recreational softball at Branford Park when they were 8 years old, according to the Antelope Valley Press-Enterprise Daily News.
Arleta entered the postseason with a 13-15 overall record. The team endured a four-game losing streak and a five-game losing streak during the regular season, according to the Daily News.
The turnaround came through the defense of the Pacoima-raised duo. Sandoval committed zero errors during the playoffs. Vasquez Duran led the offense, hitting .429 with 23 RBIs, two home runs, eight doubles, four triples, 35 runs scored, and 10 stolen bases, the Daily News reported.
"Everyone around our league looked at us and didn't think we were good enough to win," Sandoval said. "It's a very great feeling."
Arleta won six straight games to close the season, including victories over Valley Mission League rivals Sun Valley Poly and San Fernando.
Head coach Amanda Guijarro is in her 10th year overall with the program and her second stint at Arleta. She previously coached at Arleta before being laid off in 2017, then spent five seasons coaching at Sotomayor High School before returning, according to the Daily News.
Guijarro said her time at Sotomayor changed how she approaches coaching. Many of her players there had never played softball before.
"When I first started coaching, all I wanted to do was win," Guijarro said. "I was hard on the kids. We always had good teams at Arleta but then I went to Sotomayor. A lot of the kids I coached couldn't really catch or throw a softball and that humbled me a lot."
Vasquez Duran and Sandoval took extra practice sessions with Guijarro during the offseason. The two would arrive alone at the field for two-hour sessions, feeding each other ground balls and trading batting practice turns.
Arleta travels to San Diego today, Tuesday, June 2, to face the No. 1 seed Madison in the CIF SoCal Division IV first round. Madison has scored 10 runs or more in three of its last four games, according to the Daily News.
Vasquez Duran plans to play college softball at LA Valley College next season. Sandoval plans to study fashion design at Woodbury University.
"We're just enjoying each other's company so much," Sandoval said. "This is the strongest chemistry we've had."
The Southern California regional championship games are scheduled for Thursday, June 4, according to the California Interscholastic Federation.
This article was generated with AI assistance.