Pirate pitcher Ashlyn Flinchum continued her strong season, allowing just one run on five hits Friday in Ventura's 2-1 victory over LA Valley at the VC Softball Complex. Ciana Garcia and Isabel Gallegos each batted in runs and Lauren Albrent tripled and scored the game winner in the bottom of the sixth for the SoCal No. 5-ranked Pirates (24-5-1, 11-0).
The Monarchs cashed in a lead-off single and scored a run in the top of the first on a sacrifice fly to take a 1-0 lead.
Ventura came back in the bottom of the third to knot the score with a two-out rally. Alexis Carillo walked and went from first to home on Garcia's single to make it 1-1.
Flinchum continued to shut down the Monarchs, striking out seven as she worked through at least one runner on base in five of her seven innings of work.
In the bottom of the sixth, Albrent led off with a triple and scored when Gallegos reached base on an error in the next at bat for the 2-1 edge.
Flinchum shut down LAVC in order in the top of the seventh to close out the victory for Ventura.
Gallegos and Flinchum also recorded hits on the day as VC was limited to four, but the two runs were enough for the victory.
Ventura travels to East Los Angeles on Sunday April 16 for a pair of make-up games against East LA and Fullerton. They resume Western State Conference play on Tuesday April 18 at Santa Barbara, holding a three-game lead over Allan Hancock, with whom they have two games remaining, with four games remaining on the conference slate.