JSerra Lions celebrate after winning the CIF title Friday night. (Photos courtesy John Luciano, For OC Sports Zone).
For the first time in the school’s 23-year history, the JSerra softball team is a CIF champion.
JSerra senior right-hander Liliana Escobar gave up five hits, struck out 12 batters and pitched a complete game to propel JSerra to a 3-2 victory over La Mirada in the CIF Division 1 championship game Friday night at Deanna Manning Stadium.
To see the slide show, click on the first photo:
Escobar, a University of Florida commit, was overcome by tears of joy following the game.
“I’m happy we won but I’m sad that’s it’s all over; I am going to miss playing with these girls,” said Escobar, who threw 143 pitches and worked out of several jams.
La Mirada stranded 10 runners.
“My riser wasn’t working as good as it normally does but my changeup was effective,” she said. “I had to make adjustments.”
Escobar struck out the side in the second and sixth innings. She finished the season with an 18-5 record, a 1.22 ERA and 264 strikeouts.
JSerra (25-8) jumped on top in the bottom of the first inning 1-0. The Lions took advantage of a La Mirada miscue and Magenta De Arte singled home Zena Edwards to give JSerra an early lead.
The Lions took advantage of a second Matadores error to up their lead in the bottom of the second inning. Ava Born and Annabel Raftery drilled back-to-back RBI doubles with two outs, increasing JSerra’s lead to 3-0 lead.
“We had our ups and downs this season, but to win a CIF championship as a freshman, it means the world to me,” said Born, whose second inning double gave the Lions a 2-0 lead. “We prepared for this and we had the will and the desire to win.”
Raftery’s second inning double scored Born giving JSerra a 3-0 lead.
“It’s crazy; we’re D1 champions and we get to put up a banner in the gym and go down in history,“ said Raftery, Escobar’s battery mate.
La Mirada (26-5) had excellent scoring opportunities in the top of the second and third innings but Escobar pitched out of trouble both times.
The Matadores had two runners on base with two outs in the second inning, but Escobar struck out Bettie Mae Acevedo to end the rally. In the third inning, La Mirada loaded the bases, but Escobar retired Fatima Serna on a line out to shortstop to end the inning.
The Matadores’ offense showed some spark in the top of the fifth inning. Milani Cruz led off with a single. Alanna Adams followed with a single to right.
Reese Hilliard singled to center, scoring Cruz to cut the lead to 3-1. Riley Hilliard was then intentionally walked to load the bases.
One out later, Serna hit a sacrifice RBI fly that scored Adams, trimming the lead to 3-2. On the following play, the Lions committed an infield error that loaded the bases with two outs. However, Escobar got Rylee Thurmond to ground into a force play to end the inning.
La Mirada again rallied in the seventh inning. Reese Hilliard singled to lead off the seventh. Her twin sister, Riley Hilliard, walked to give the Matadores runners at first and second with no outs.
One out later, Serna hit a drive to left center field that De Arte ran down for the second out. Escobar then struck out Juliana Rivara to end the game and give the Lions the championship.
“Nine years ago, I got a phone call from JSerra and they said ‘we want to win a CIF championship,’” said Lions coach Katie Stith, who is in her eighth season as coach. “It’s been a long journey, but we got here. In the fall, we had a goal to win league and CIF. We came up short in league, but these girls believed in themselves. Liliana (Escobar) pitched at another level. The girls wanted to win it for her.”
La Mirada catcher Riley Hilliard said Escobar was tough to hit.
“I’m Liliana’s catcher on our travel team and we knew what was coming and we still couldn’t hit her,” said Hilliard, who along with her sister Reese combined to hit 17 home runs, collect 71 RBI and record 101 hits this season. In addition, both Reese and Riley batted over .560 for the season.
La Mirada Coach Brent Tuttle said La Mirada had its chances.
“We had the bases loaded several times, but Escobar is a great pitcher and we just couldn’t get the big hit,” said Tuttle. “I think she threw something like 145 pitches; that’s lot of pitches. I think their runs were unearned, but they capitalized on our mistakes. We’re a young team. We start four freshmen and one senior. I told the girls we’re proud of them; they never gave up.”
Alison Ortega, the Matadores junior right-hander and a Harvard-commit, pitched a strong game as well. She gave up five hits, struck out seven and didn’t walk a batter. Ortega threw 102 pitches and pitched a complete game. La Mirada was attempting to win its first CIF softball championship since 1991.
Matadores freshman Alanna Adams had two hits and scored a run.
“As a freshman, I never expected to be in the CIF finals,” said Adams, a left fielder. “I’m proud of our team. We’re excited for next season.”
Notes:
—-Both La Mirada and JSerra have opted out for the CIF So Cal regional tournament that begins next week. “The girls decided they didn’t want to play in the state regional tournament,” said Stith. “Many of them are on travel ball teams and there is several big tournaments coming up and they didn’t want to miss them.”
—-La Mirada reached the finals by defeating Los Alamitos, Palos Verdes, Etiwanda, and La Habra in the first four rounds of the playoffs while JSerra beat Yucaipa, Ayala, Pacifica and Norco to reach the finals.
—-La Mirada has three juniors (Riley Hilliard (Oklahoma), Reese Hilliard (Stanford), and Ortega Harvard) who will have committed to playing college softball following their senior year.
—-The Matadores had four freshmen in the starting lineup.
—-La Mirada won the Gateway League this season and JSerra finished second in the Trinity League behind Orange Lutheran.
—-La Mirada outscored its opponents this season 205-62.
—-The championship game paired the No. 2 ranked team (JSerra) against the No. 3 ranked team (La Mirada) in California according to Maxpreps.
—-La Mirada has won 17 of its last 19 games entering Friday’s championship contest and the Lions had won eight of its last nine games.
—-JSerra defeated La Mirada for the second time this season. The teams met in a tournament game in March that the Lions won 5-2.
—-The Lions outscored their opponents in the playoffs, 18-5.
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