The road to the CIF Southern Section Division 1 quarterfinals was a bumpy one for Murrieta Mesa High School. Not because of their ability to compete, they handled that just fine, but more of a ride that had them face some adversity mid-season. The Lady Rams were dealt a tough card that reflected a schedule oversight, which had them have to forfeit two league games at the end of the season, almost costing them a share of the Southwestern League title.
Luckily, everything worked out, and not only did they claim their share of the title, which they won outright last year, they also secured their spot in the postseason with their 23-7 record. Heading into their quarterfinal game against top-seeded Oaks Christian (30-0), Murrieta Mesa was averaging more than eight runs per game, and had scored twenty-one total runs over their first two playoff games.
Those stats did not intimidate visiting pitcher, Micaela Kastor, when she toed the rubber on the Lady Rams softball field Thursday, May 12. The Notre Dame bound senior tossed a three-hit ball game and struck out thirteen batters en route to 9-0 win over Murrieta Mesa, keeping their perfect season intact.
Offensively, the Lady Lions broke through against Murrieta Mesa’s ace, Caylea Rains-Campbell, in the third inning when Heaven Oliva led off with a single, which led to a Leisel Osteen two-run shot to give Oaks Christian the lead. The attack wasn’t over. After a Justine Lambert ground out, Kastor would single, followed by a Rylee McCoy single, an Anahi Arreola single, scoring Kastor, which then led to a Lily Knox single, scoring McCoy. A groundout and flyout would stop the bleeding for Rains-Campbell.
The score would remain 4-0 until back-to-back doubles in the top of the fifth by Knox and Ilovea Brittingham, which would plate Knox, then a Brittingham steal of home would make it 6-0. Oaks Christian wasn’t done there. Back-to-back home runs in the top of the 6th, by Arreola and Brittingham, and an error in the inning, brought the score to 9-0.
Rains-Campbell allowed fourteen hits, and nine runs in the game, while striking out two batters. Kaylee Lewis threw one and one third innings in relief. Oak Christian would finish with sixteen hits on the day, with ten of their players getting at least one hit apiece. Knox also went 3-for-4 at the plate to lead the Lady Lions offensively.
Zoe Karam, Kaylee Oh, Paige Bambarger, and Taelyn Holly got the only hits for the Lady Rams. Undefeated Oaks Christian (31-0) will travel to Los Alamitos (23-7) for their semifinal game Saturday, May 14.
Winners in the quarterfinal round included Elsinore (20-7) with their 13-1 routing of San Jacinto Valley Academy, Temescal Canyon (22-5), who beat visiting Heritage in a nine-inning showdown, 6-5 (click here for the full story), and Linfield Christian, with their 10-9 come from behind victory over Rosemead.
The Linfield Lady Lions fell behind 5-0 in the in the second inning before chipping away and pulling even at 7-7 in the fifth inning. With the game on the line, junior Vanessa Perez sent a line drive over the right field fence in the bottom of the 6th to give Linfield Christian (15-8) the lead 8-7. Rosemead did not back down and scored twice in the top of the 7th inning to give the Lady Panthers a 9-8 lead. In the bottom of the seventh, Perez got on base with her fourth hit of the game, and in dramatic fashion, with two outs, sophomore Faith Stamper would end the game with a single to left field, scoring Perez, securing Linfield’s bid to the semifinal round. Makaylyn Eden picked up the win for Linfield’s Lady Lions.
Orange Vista and San Jacinto were the only other teams that had quarterfinal games, but both fell without scoring any runs in their final game of the season.
Scores from the CIF-SS softball quarterfinals Thursday, and the pairings for the semifinals:
CIF-SS SOFTBALL PLAYOFFS
DIVISION 1
Quarterfinals
Oaks Christian 9, Murrieta Mesa 0
Semifinals, Saturday May 14
No local teams
DIVISION 2
No local teams
DIVISION 3
Quarterfinals
Temescal Canyon 6, Heritage 5 (9 innings)
Semifinals, Saturday May 14
Bonita at Temescal Canyon
DIVISION 4
Quarterfinals
Temple City 7, Orange Vista 0
Semifinals, Saturday May 14
No local teams
DIVISION 5
Quarterfinals
Cajon 3, San Jacinto 0
Semifinals, Saturday May 14
No local teams
DIVISION 6
Quarterfinals
Elsinore 13, San Jacinto Valley Academy 1
Semifinals, Saturday May 14
Elsinore at Indio
DIVISION 7
Quarterfinals
Linfield Christian 10, Rosemead 9
Semifinals, Saturday May 14
Linfield Christian at Duarte
The championship games will be played May 20-21 at Bill Barber Park in Irvine.
(Check www.cifss.com for game times, which may vary)
JP Raineri can be reached by email at sports@reedermedia.com.
