Irvine softball players show their CIF championship patches after Thursday’s victory in the finals. (Photos courtesy John Luciano, For OC Sports Zone).
Irvine’s softball team captured a coveted CIF championship again Thursday evening.
And the Vaqueros did so in dominating fashion, defeating Arroyo of El Monte 15-2 in the Division 6 final at Deanna Manning Stadium.
Irvine brought home the second softball title in school history and the first since the Vaqueros led by Jennifer Brundage (now an assistant coach at University of Michigan) defeated Foothill 1-0 in the 4A final in 1991. Irvine lost in the Division 5 final 5-2 to Liberty in 2023 at Deanna Manning Stadium.
To see the slide show, click on the first photo:
It was a much different scene Thursday night when the Vaqueros celebrated on the field with their long-time coach Jim Knapp, who helped Irvine get back on track after an 0-7 start, survive a non tough non-league schedule and went on to share the Pacific Coast League title with Rosary.
“Once CIF {playoffs} got here, my lineup, overall hit the ball pretty well and the top four or five were on fire pretty much the whole time,” Knapp said. “I {his team} knew I would score runs, it was a matter of whether I was going to give up a bunch or not.”
Knapp didn’t have to worry.
Irvine starting pitcher Midori De Los Santos pitched a complete game, scattering seven hits and striking out two. Just one of the runs she allowed was earned.
“Midori came in and did what she needed to do,” said Knapp, in his 11th year as Irvine coach. “She located the ball pretty well, gave up some hits, but my defense is good enough to keep us steady so a good job by all of them. I got all 20 in the game too.”
Irvine’s 12-hit attack was led by seniors Harper Vandermolen, who was 3 for 5 with five RBI and two runs scored and Katie Liu, who was 2 for 4 with two runs scored and an RBI. Both players were on the 2023 team that lost in the finals.
“It’s satisfying, I’m really happy for Katie and Harper, they’ve played solid softball for four years,” Knapp said. “To see them go out with a championship is pretty special because they worked hard for four years and they deserve it.”
Vandermolen, the third baseman, was thrilled to help her team bring home a title this time.
“It was great being back here three years ago and getting that win finally felt so good,” Vandermolen said. “And our team had such a turn-around this season. We’ve been producing on offense a ton and it’s been really special to see everybody in the lineup produce. With a score like this, it’s just incredible. Our whole season has been great working toward this.”
Liu, the Irvine shortstop, was satisfied too.
“It was really exciting and it was a really good game,” Liu said. “Our offense was really good today and we kept the runs low on defense. It means a lot to me getting a second chance to do better than last time.”
Also contributing for Irvine (16-16) were freshman first baseman Andrea Torres, who was 3 for 4 with three runs scored and three RBI and sophomore catcher Jocelyn Knerr who was 2 for 4.
Irvine benefited by four errors by Arroyo (18-10) which led to three unearned runs. Arroyo pitchers walked eight batters and hit three.
The Vaqueros moved ahead early in the first inning. De Los Santos reached on an error and scored on a booming RBI double off the right field fence by Vandermolen. Torres followed with an RBI single off Arroyo starter Emily Rubalcava.
Knerr then singled and another run scored on an error in the outfield, putting Irvine ahead 3-0.
The Vaqueros added two more runs in the second inning. Liu walked and went to third on a wild pitch. An error and an outfield error with Vandermolen up allowed two more runs to score.
Arroyo scored a run in the fourth inning. Melanie Borgen reached on a fielder’s choice and eventually came around to score when Raylene Inostroz singled and advanced on an error cutting the lead to 5-1.
But in the bottom of the inning, Irvine used three walks, two hit batters and a two-run single by Vandermolen to scored four more runs and move ahead 9-1. Ella Pruce (hit batter) and Eva Cho (walk) had RBI when they were up with the bases loaded.
Arroyo scored a run in the top of the fifth inning. Ayleen Bravo singled and scored on an RBI double by Alina Linn to cut the lead to 9-2.
Irvine countered with six more runs in the bottom of the inning. Torres had a two-run double, Shelley Qi drove in a run on a sacrifice fly and Liu and De Los Santos had RBI singles.
De Los Santos then shut out Arroyo in the final two innings.
“Coming here {to the final} and playing was a big surprise for us,” said De Los Santos, a junior. “We did our best though and we executed what we needed to do.”
Rubalcava, the Arroyo starter, allowed the first 10 runs, seven earned in four innings. Savanna Limon came on to pitch in the fifth inning for the Knights.
Irvine also turned two double plays.
Irvine outscored its opponents 31-4 in the last two playoff games.
The Vaqueros will compete in the CIF So Cal Regionals beginning Tuesday.
—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com
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