Mater Dei softball team captures silver division crown at Alan Dugard Tournament

Mater Dei’s softball team captured the Alan Dugard Tournament title Saturday. (PHOTO: Tom Connolly, For OC Sports Zone).

Mater Dei High right-hander Citlaly Valencia struck out 10 and gave up one hit and the Monarchs pounded out 13 hits to defeat Dana Hills 10-0 in the championship game of the Silver Division of the Alan Dugard Softball Tournament Saturday afternoon at Deanna Manning Stadium.

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The game was called after four innings due to the mercy rule.       

Earlier on Saturday, Mater Dei (12-8-1) defeated Trinity League rival Santa Margarita in a semifinal game, 5-2, to reach the finals. The Dolphins (8-7) defeated Edison 9-5 in the other semifinal game.

Valencia was dominant as she struck the side out in the first and fourth innings. Valencia walked only two batters, and the only hit she yielded was a leadoff double to Peyton Prince in the third inning.

“I felt really good because I knew I had a strong defense behind me,” said Valencia, a junior. “I felt locked in, and I was throwing strikes and hitting the inside and outside corners and not throwing the ball directly over the plate”.

The Monarchs displayed their team speed in the second inning with five hits, including three infield hits, while jumping out to a 4-0 lead.   

In the bottom of the second inning, Danica Lancellotti ripped a one-out triple to right center.

Following the second out of the inning, Isabella Ruby, Mikayla Macisaac, and Audrey Eyler each legged out infield hits and Lelei Salu highlighted the rally with a two-run single to give the Monarchs a 4-0 lead. Mater Dei scored all four runs with two outs in the inning.  

Mater Dei added three more runs in the third inning. Ella McCloskey led off the bottom of the third with a triple to right center. She then scored on Jaelyn Toledo RBI single. Toledo then scored on Lancellotti’s RBI double. Lancellotti also scored in the inning, giving the Monarchs a commanding 7-0 lead.

“I’m just so happy to be back on the field and playing again,” said Lancellotti, who was required to sit out a designated period after transferring from El Modena. “This tournament has provided us great memories and it has been a lot of fun.”  Lancellotti had three extra base hits, two RBI and scored two runs in the game.

Mater Dei added three runs in the fourth inning and the game was called after the Monarchs scored their 10^th run.

Eyler had three hits, scored a run, and had an RBI for Mater Dei. Toledo added two hits, scored two runs, and had two RBI for the Monarchs.

The Dolphins only scoring opportunity came in the third inning. After Prince doubled, she moved to third on a wild pitch.

With one out, Katie Erenyi then laid down a suicide squeeze bunt down the third base line that (third basemen) Lancellotti fielded and threw to Ruby who tagged Prince out at the plate for the second out of the inning. Valencia then struck out Riley Richardson to end the inning.

“This has been a fun tournament for us, and today was our last nonleague game; it’s all Trinity League opponents after this,” said Monarchs coach Nicole Thomas.

Despite the setback Dana Hills coach, Margo Botelho, was upbeat and anxious to move onto league play.

“I like where we are as a team right now,” said Botelho, who took over as head coach 10 days before the season started. “This has been a great tournament for us, and we stepped up and played against a higher level of competition. We had a lot of positives come out of this tournament. I think we played well and we’re looking forward to getting back into league play.”    

Mater Dei defeated San Juan Hills, Fountain Valley, Santa Margarita, and Dan Hills in the tournament and lost to Burroughs. The Dolphins went 3-2 in the tournament, defeating Los Altos, Peninsula and Edison and losing to Redondo Union and Mater Dei.