The No. 13 Moorpark College softball team in three games to No. 4 Fullerton, champion of the Orange Empire Conference, in their first round Best-of-3 Southern California regional playoff series over the weekend.

Fullerton's Kelsey Marker threw a three-hitter in Friday's 4-1 Hornet win. Moorpark's Rebecca Grant had two of the Raiders' three hits.

Moorpark took the second game, 7-4, as Bonnie Ward pitched a five-hitter for her 22nd win of the season, was 2 for 3 at the plate, including a home run, and scored twice. Cayla Nelson was 2 for 3 and scored twice. Taylor Neumann had a three-run triple.

Moorpark mustered just five hits and was shutout, 8-0, in the decisive third game.

Moorpark (32-14) finished with 32 wins, the most by the program since 2002, and the WSC Gold Division title.

Twin shutouts by freshman Taylor Neumann and sophomore Bonnie Ward against cross-country rival Ventura clinched the host Raiders' first Western State Conference championship in seven years Thursday afternoon.

Backed by near flawless defense highlighted by stalwart third baseman Michelle Zakosek, the pitching pair made it look a lot easier than it felt.

Barely a month into the rebirth of her pitching career, Neumann, Moorpark's starting catcher, improved to 6-2 by scattering four hits and inducing 12 ground ball outs over seven shutout innings of a 2-0 Game 1 victory.

Little more than a year after sustaining a knee ligament injury that left her pitching future in doubt, Ward picked up her 20th win of the season, 1-0, with a three-hit shutout.

The sweep ballooned a half-game lead to two and a half with one day to play. Moorpark (30-12, 18-5) faces Oxnard Tuesday while Ventura (23-16, 15-7) has a doubleheader with Santa Barbara City.

"Ventura and Cuesta have been the teams to beat," said Moorpark coach Kelly Lovato. "It's just sweet to do this at home with two shutouts."

Moorpark built an early 2-0 lead in the first game on Jennifer Irvine's second-inning RBI single, after Ward had left off with a double off the left-center field wall, and Ward's third-inning RBI single, which followed Kristen Torres' single and Zakosek's double with one out.

But infield singles by Ventura's Kim Pilpil and Ashley Dasnoit put the tying runs on base with no outs in the sixth.

The Raiders' exhales came in the form of line drive to shortstop Jamie Yaller, who quickly started the triple play.

Moorpark led nearly the whole way in the second game, taking the lead in the bottom of the first inning as Neumann reached on an infield misplay, was moved over twice by sacrifices and scored on a passed ball.

Clutch performances have kept the Moorpark College softball team ahead of the pack in the Western State Conference.

It all began with a seven-run seventh inning in the come-from-behind 11-6 win at Los Angeles Pierce March 12.

Then came Taylor Neumann's game-winning three-run home run with two outs in the bottom of the seventh of a 4-3 win over Cuesta on March 19.

The heroics continued last week with Kristen Torres' game-winning RBI single in the eighth inning of a 10-9 extra-winning win over Ventura March 24 and Tara Hale's seventh-innning RBI single in the 1-0 win over Oxnard March 26.

"We've had a few of those," said Moorpark coach Kelly Lovato. "They like to do it in one inning or the last inning."

The Raiders (20-9, 12-3) have needed ever clutch hit to maintain its slight edge over Ventura (17-13, 11-4) entering today's home doubleheader against Santa Barbara City.