Marina jumps out to an early lead, defeats Westlake for CIF Division 3 championship

Marina players and coaches after capturing the CIF title. (PHOTOS: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).

Marina High School’s softball team staked ace pitcher Mia Valbuena to an early two-run after a half inning and the Vikings were in control after that rolling to an 8-1 victory over Westlake Saturday evening in the CIF DIvision 3 final at Deanna Manning Stadium.

It marked the first CIF title for Marina since 1995.

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The Vikings (19-13) added three runs in the third inning to break the game open. Valbuena, who recorded all of Marina’s playoff victories, struck out 13 and struck out the side twice while scattering six hits.

“It was really nice, I knew we were going to hit because we’ve been on a roll recently but I didn’t expect that obviously and it was really amazing to have that comfortabilty,” said Valbuena.

Marina (20-13) had 13 hits, led by Eva Mazzotti, who had four doubles and four RBI and Ava Valbuena, who had three hits and four RBI.

Co-head coaches Shelly Luth and Dan Hay were thrilled with the victory.

“I’m excited, I’m happy, I’m happy for this team, they’ve worked really hard all year long and little by little putting pieces together Dan and I have been working hard every single day to put a product we thought we knew we had and prove it to them, and sooner or later they started playing with confidence,” said Luth.

“It’s an amazing team, they get along, I’ve had really good teams in the past, this one just a special team, they’re all in it together and they’re really special, it’s been an honor to coach them

Luth also led the program to CIF titles in 1994 and 1995.

“I’ve been to the championship game once with Canyon, we fell short,” added Hay. “I’ve been to the semifinals five or six times. This is my first championship and I couldn’t have written the script any better than doing it with Shelly. We came back out of retirement together and we thought we would be here two or three years and this is our eighth season with Marina.

“Coaches strive to have their teams peak at the right time and especially at the end of the year and the playoffs and this team started to peak the minute the playoffs began and we went on a run and allowed two runs in five games.”

In the first inning, Avi Valbuena belted a two-run double put the Vikings ahead 2-0.

Then in the third inning, she had a two-run single and Mazzotti had an RBI double to extend Marina’s lead to 5-0.

Marina extended its lead to 7-0 with two more runs in the fifth inning on Mazzotti’s two run double. Lilly Barrett delivered an RBI for Westlake in the sixth inning to break the shutout.

But in the bottom of the inning, Mazzotti had another RBI double to make it 8-1.

Gabriella DiBenedetto also contributed offensively for Marina, going 2 for 3 with two runs scored and a double.

Luth, the co-head coach, said the Vikings will not participate in next week’s CIF So Cal Regionals.

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