Fast start lifts Fullerton past Mater Dei Catholic and into CIF SoCal Regional finals

Fullerton players and coaches celebrate after Thursday’s victory. (Photo: Tom Connolly, For OC Sports Zone).

Fullerton High School’s softball team erupted for six runs in the first inning and held on to defeat Mater Dei Catholic of Chula Vista 6-4 in a semifinal game of the CIF SoCal Regional Division III playoffs Thursday afternoon at Fullerton.

The No. 2-seeded Indians (25-7) advance to Saturday’s championship game and will travel to Chula Vista to play top-seeded Otay Ranch, which defeated Carson 11-3 on Thursday.  The final will be Saturday at 2 p.m.     

Trailing 2-0 in the home half of the first inning, Fullerton sent 10 batters to the plate and took advantage of three walks, an error and three hits to quickly counter the Crusaders early lead.

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Ava Paquin, Andrea Montes de Oca and Tianna Salcido highlighted the inning with RBI singles. Abby Galvan also added an RBI with an infield ground out to help the Indians move out to a 6-2 lead after the first inning.

“We were discouraged after we lost the CIF final to Foothill, but we felt we had another shot to come back and win a championship,” said Paquin, who also had two hits and scored a run. “We’ve worked hard this season and we were a bit nervous today, but we stayed focused.”

Oregon-bound Ayanna Shaw (three hits) led off the Mater Dei third inning with a bunt single, stole a base an then scored to cut the lead to 6-3.

Malaya Majam-Finch went the distance for the Indians to earn her 20^th win of the season. The freshman right-hander gave up seven hits, struck out five and walked two. She has struck out 155 batters this season.

“I knew my offense had my back and I trusted our defense,” said Majam-Finch, who is the niece of two-time US Olympic softball Gold and Silver medalist Jenny Finch.

Fullerton third baseman Emma Thorson, shortstop Melia Vera and second baseman Zoey Bautista combined to make several spectacular defensive gems to foil the Crusaders comeback efforts. However, the Indians were unable to score after the first inning. 

In the top of the seventh inning, Mater Dei rallied and was on the verge of a potential big inning when a baserunning blunder slowed their momentum. 

Micha Salvatierra singled to lead off the inning. Lilia Alpuche bunted and reached first when catcher Maiah Rodriguez fielded the ball but her throw to first was too late to get Alpunche.

Fullerton coach Trevor Holton then made a trip to the mound to try and settle his team down.

“I told them, ‘we’ve been here before’; it’s the same situation as the Foothill (CIF championship game); I told them to relax,” said Holton.

Shaw then doubled to left center, scoring Salvatierra. However, on the play, Alpunche overran third base and was tagged out for the first out of the inning) by Thorson as she attempted to dive safely back to the base.

“That play changed the whole momentum of the game,” said Majam-Finch. “It was a heart-pounding moment, and then I took a couple of deep breaths and relaxed.”

Majam-Finch then retired the next two batters on infield ground outs to secure the Indians win. 

“It’s an amazing feeling to win and to be going to the championship; we’re all going through this for the first time,” Majam-Finch added.

“I told our girls after the Foothill loss that we will learn from that tough defeat and we’ll get better and today we did that,” said Holton. “I can’t remember the last time Fullerton went to a regional final, but it’s an exciting time for all of us.” 

Coach Mike Centrullo said it was a disappointing loss for his Mater Dei team, which finished 18-15.

“The first inning killed us; we gave up six runs,” said Centrullo, who on Tuesday won his 400^th career game. “We made too many mistakes and it cost us, but we’re a young team and we’ll recover.” 

Centrullo, whose team won the regional championship last year, just completed his 24^th year as the Crusaders coach. Mater Dei has won eight CIF titles in the San Diego Section since 2010, but lost in the finals this year. Centrullo’s wife, Liz, who played college softball for Oklahoma State, has been Mater Dei’s co-coach for the past six years.

—Tom Connolly, For OC Sports Zone