PHOTOS: Irvine rolls into CIF Division 6 final with decisive victory over Granite Hills

Irvine Vaqueros celebrate after Saturday’s semifinal victory. (PHOTOS: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).

Irvine’s softball team is charging into the CIF Division 6 championship game next week at Deanna Manning Stadium.

The Vaqueros broke open a 2-2 tie with two runs in the bottom of the second inning and exploded for six runs in the third inning en route to a 16-2 victory over Granite Hills in the semifinals Saturday on the Irvine campus.

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Katie Liu belted a 2-run home run (her second of the year) and went 3 for 5 with four RBI and two runs scored to lead the attack. Harper Vandermolen had a home run and had three RBI and three runs scored and Jocelyn Knerr had a two-run home run in the third inning and and went 3 for 4 with three RBI.

Midori De Los Santos pitched the first five innnings for Irvine and went 4 for 5 at the plate with two runs scored. Carlee Lombardo pitched two scoreless innings to complete the game.

The two pitchers limited Granite Hills to four hits and no runs through the last four innings.

Irvine moves on to the finals on a day to be announced later. Irvine will face the winner of the Hesperia Christian-Arroyo game in the final.It will be Irvine’s first appearance in the finals since 2023 when Coach Jim Knapp’s team lost to Liberty 5-2 in the Divison 5 final. It was Irvine’s first appearance in a CIF final in more than 30 years.

“It’s sort of fitting, Katie and Harper were a big part of that first team in 2023, it’s good to see them being successful right now and going back to that again,” said Irvine Coach Jim Knapp, who received a Gatorade shower from his players. “We got kids who can hit, I have another two who I think can put it over the fence when they want to.

“That’s what we do, when the pitchers locate the ball and let the other team hit the ball. I got beat up a little bit earlier in the year because our pitchers weren’t quite ready yet but I think they’re in their groove now and I’m feeling pretty confident about next week, whatever day they put us on.”

“This victory is really huge,” said Liu. “I think we hit really well as a team overall and we did what we needed to do on defense. I’ve kind of been struggling the past couple of games, so to hit this home run today felt really good, especially in the semifinals.”

Granite Hills (13-9) took an early lead when Taylor Godwin hit a solo home run in the first inning.

But Irvine responded in the bottom of the first inning when Shelly Qu ripped a two-run double driving in Vandermolen and Andrea Torres.

Granite Hills tied the game in the top of the second inning. Alina Salgado doubled and scored on an RBI single by Taylor Rask.

But Irvine countered in the bottom of the second inning. Ella Pruce singled and Liu belted a two-run home run to put the Vaqueros ahead 4-2.

Pruce also had an RBI single and Liu a two-run single in Irvine’s six-run third inning to put the Vaqueos ahead 10-2.

Irvine added a run in the fifth inning on an RBI double by Eva Cho to make it 11-2 and added three runs in the fifth and two more in the sixth inning.

Irvine had a remarkable turn-around. With a strong finish in league, Irvine was able to win a share of the league title with Rosary.

“I played a really tough schedule, Mater Dei, Cypress, a couple others, some are still playing in Division 2 and 3,” Knapp said. “We got beat up, but league is what matters to me, I don’t care about going 0-10 going into league as long as we play well and we did.”

Liu is confident the Vaqueros can do well in the final.

“We’re going to win it all this time,” she said.

—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com