COVINA — In a battle for first place in the Valle Vista League, the Charter Oak softball team knocked off Northview 6-0 and took a two-game lead over the Vikings in the standings Tuesday afternoon.

The Chargers (11-0, 5-0), the defending league champs, broke up a perfect game by Northview’s Clementina Duran in the fifth inning. After an error by the Vikings, a two-out single by senior catcher Alyssa Lopez drove in the game’s first run.

“Our defense was great and our pitching was phenomenal,” Vikings coach Bill Eklund said. “They didn’t say anything but, they knew they were watching a no-hitter. We got so hyped up once they got that run, the girls kind of tightened up, and that was that.”

The Chargers scored five more unearned runs in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Charter Oak sophomore pitcher Leila Siebert went the distance against the Vikings (15-7-1, 3-2) to earn her eighth win of the season. Diebert struck out eight batters and gave up only three hits.

She had to pitch out of a couple of early jams.

“They had some runners early, but my teammates helped me get out of it,” Diebert said. “My screwball was working well, especially inside and we got a lot of ground balls.”

The Chargers got their first break in the fifth when a fly ball by Jayla Brown was dropped by the Northview center fielder for an error.

With two outs, Lopez lined a single to left for the first hit of the game and that drove in Brown to make it 1-0.

Lopez had a pair of hits in the game to raise her batting average close to .600.

“That was an exciting moment,” Lopez said of her single in the fifth. “I was just trying to poke one to left because I saw their fielder moving back. I just had to be selfless and know what I had to do to get that run in.”

The Vikings got runners to third base in the third and fifth innings but Diebert worked out of those jams.

In the third, the Beatrice Diaz walked and Bella Ochoa moved her to third with a two-out single. Joy Sanchez hit a ball that appeared to be headed for right field but an odd hop resulted in Ochoa being hit by the ball for the third out of the inning.

“I thought our pitcher outpitched theirs today,” Eklund said. “But we couldn’t get that key hit when we needed it. They have 10 seniors on their team and we’re really young, so we’re just going to treat this as a learning experience and get better next time.”

“Northview’s a solid team,” Chargers first-year coach Bre Lockett said. “I’m happy the girls figured it out and we’ll be ready to go again on Thursday.”

The Chargers and Vikings meet again today at Northview High.