Coyotes Softball Wins 2 At Glendale Tourney, 2-3 To Start '26 Season
The Compton College softball team began the 2026 season last week, picking up two victories at the Glendale Tournament after being blanked twice in an Oxnard tri-doubleheader. On Friday, the Coyotes were no-hit by state #11 Orange Coast in a 10-0, 5-inning defeat.
Directed by head coach Victoria Castillo, the Coyotes (2-2) didn't score their first run until their third contest, an 11-3 win over Cuesta followed by a 9-8 triumph over San Diego City on Jan. 24.
In the Cuesta game that ended due to the 8-run mercy run after six innings, freshman pitcher Caitlyn Cox (La Mirada High) scattered seven hits and struck out five for the circle victory. She was aided by a 13-hit Coyotes' offensive explosion as frosh designated player Sarah Aguilar (Paramount HS) batted 2-for-4 with a home run and three RBI.
Freshman leftfielder Avigail Navarro (Mark Keppel HS) was 2-for-4 with a triple and three RBI, returning sophomore rightfielder Destiny Munguia went 2-for-3 with a triple and three runs scored, and frosh centerfielder Amy Duarte (Bell High) hit 2-for-4 and stole two bases. Freshman second baseman Julissa Montes (Huntington Park) also added two hits. Returning sophomore shortstop/pitcher Johanna Vidales added a RBI double.
Against SDCC in a game that was called after five innings due to time limit, Compton rallied from down 2-0, led 5-2, then fell behind again 6-5 in the top of the fourth. In the bottom of the frame after two quick outs, Munguia drew a walk, Aguilar reached on an error, then Navarro was clutch with a RBI double that tied it. Navarro then launched a 3-run homer that proved to be the winning runs. Compton held on after the Knights scored two runs in the top of the fifth as reliever Vidales, who batted 2-for-3, collected the circle win (2.2 innings).
In the season-opening 1-0 loss on Jan. 23 v. Oxnard, Cox pitched brilliantly in her collegiate debut and got the team's only hit in the third inning. Tied 0-0, the Condors walked it off in the bottom of the sixth (time limit) on an unearned run as Jiselle Garcia singled in the game-winner. Taetum Bell delivered the 1-hitter in the circle for Oxnard. Cox allowed just four hits in 5.2 innings of work.
Freshman third baseman Celest Torres (Downey) got the Coyotes lone hit in a 11-0 loss to Santiago Canyon, a program that returned to the field after not hosting a team last year, in the second game at Oxnard.
At Orange Coast, a team that made it to the '25 state tournament, Compton couldn't muster a hit v. the Pirates pitching combo of Georgia Gruber (four innings) and hard-throwing Kelsey McNair, who struck out the side in the fifth.
Others on the Compton roster that have played thus far is returning sophomore catcher Angela Banderas and first-year players in first baseman Angelique Aguillon (Bishop-Conaty Loretto HS), third baseman Cheyenne Prado (La Serna), infielder-outfielder Roxanna Hernandez (La Serna), outfielder Da'Nijah Norton (Leuzinger), and first baseman Sara Barboa (South Gate).
Vidales was the team's pitching ace in 2025 when she worked 117.2 innings, earned six wins and a save. Munguia (.245, two home runs, seven doubles, 11 RBI) and Banderas (one homer, 15 RBI) are both returning starters.
On Tuesday, Feb. 3, the Coyotes play on their home diamond for the first time this season in a 1 p.m. game v. College of the Canyons. They then start the 21-game, South Coast Conference schedule on Thursday, Feb. 5 in hosting state #4-ranked Mt. San Antonio. Overall, the team plays a 37-game schedule including 11 more non-conference contests.
The program is much-improved under Coach Castillo, who directed Compton to the Southern California Regional Playoffs in 2024.