Irvine survives wild finish for home win in opening round of CIF So Cal Regional

Irvine softball players after Tuesday’s CIF So Cal regional victory. (PHOTOS: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).

Irvine’s softball team pushed across three runs in the bottom of the sixth inning and survived a wild top of the seventh inning to notch an 8-7 victory over Avenal in the opening round of the CIF Division IV So Cal Regionals at Irvine.

The Vaqueros, who won the CIF Division 6 Southern Section championship last weekend, were tested by the No. 6-seeded Buccaneers Tuesday.

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But Irvine’s Harper Vandermolen belted a two-run home run in the bottom of the sixth inning and starting pitcher Carlee Lombardo was able to work out of trouble in the seventh to preserve the win.

No. 3 Irvine (17-16) moves on to the semifinals vs. No. 2 seeded Woodlake from the Fresno area either Wednesday or Friday. Irvine Coach Jim Knapp and school officials were working out which day the game would be held since Irvine seniors have finals and the school’s graduation is Thursday.

The regional finals are scheduled for Saturday.

“We didn’t play very well, quite honestly,” Knapp said. “Too many errors, mental errors as well as physical errors, physical errors we can handle. Some of the mental errors were pretty uncharacteristic but it goes that way sometimes. These kids are in finals week, they’re probably thinking about more than one thing.

“But we got hit from Harper when we needed it and a couple of the batters in the lower part of the order came through when they needed to, so that was good too. Carlee pitched really well. If we made any plays at all, maybe they score two runs, but sometimes that’ s the way the day goes. I’m glad we came out with the win in the end.”

Vandermolen was mobbed by her teammates at home plate after her blast in the sixth inning put the Vaqueros ahead.

“It felt really good because I kind of had been struggling the whole game getting my swing right,” Vandermolen said. “It was nice to just finally get it perfect and hit it dead center. It felt really good.

“It’s great, because every year we don’t necessarily do regionals, so it’s good to get a win and the times we have we’ve lost, so it’s nice to get a first win.”

Avenal, the CIF Division 6 Central Division champion, cashed in two errors, a hit batter and a walk to score three runs in the first inning. Khloe Nieto drove in the third run on a groundout.

Irvine tied the game with three runs in the bottom of the first inning. Eva Cho singled with one out, Andrea Torres had an RBI single, Jocelyn Knerr had a single and Shelley Qi had a two-run double off Nieto, who pitched six innings.

Avenal (17-8) scored two more unearned runs in the top of the second inning on an error to move ahead 5-3.

Irvine cut the lead to 5-4 in the second inning when Mia Vinopal singled and scored on a double by Katie Liu.

The Vaqueros then tied the game 5-5 in the fourth inning. Liu singled with two outs and scored on an RBI single by Cho.

In the sixth inning, Avenal scored a run on an RBI double by Destinty Hernandez to take a 6-5 lead.

But the Vaqueros responded with three runs in the bottom of the inning. Ella Pruce and Vinopal singled. Pruce was able to score when the catcher’s pickoff throw sailed into the outfield. Then Cho walked and Vandermolen homered.

But Avenal gave Irvine a scare in the top of the seventh. Layla Lopez walked and came around to score. Avenal had runners on first and third with one out. But the runner on third base was called out for leaving the base too soon.

Lombardo then got a groundout to end the game.

Irvine, which had 13 hits, was led by Cho, who was 2 for 3 with two runs scored an an RBI; Liu, who was 2 for 4 with a run scored and an RBI; and Torres, who was 2 for 4 with an RBI and a run scored. Knerr and Vinopal each had two hits for the Vaqueros.

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