PHOTOS: Pacifica rallies for extra inning victory over La Mirada in CIF playoff opener

Pacifica softball players celebrate after Thursday’s comeback playoff win. (Photos courtesy Jim McCormack, For OC Sports Zone).

It was a quintessential example of Yogi Berra’s famous declaration “it ain’t over till it’s over.”

Trailing by four runs after one inning, Pacifica rallied to edge La Mirada, 6-5, in eight innings in a CIF Division 1 first-round softball playoff game at John Glenn High School in Norwalk Thursday.

Very little went right for the visiting Mariners in the first inning when La Mirada (18-8) combined three hits with a walk, hit batter and Pacifica error to score four runs.

Those runs seemed more than adequate through four innings, but junior pitcher Brynne Nally kept La Mirada at bay and, in the top of the fifth, momentum began to swing.

To see the slide show, click on the first photo:

Delaina Ma’ae (32) and Leyla Ayers (3) hit 2-run home runs and Brynne Nally (5) doubled in the winning run Thursday.

Pacifica second baseman Aylsa Del Val reacts to completion of a double play for the first two outs of eighth inning. La Mirada’s Rebecca Eckart was forced at second.

Brynne Nally bounced back from a 4-run first inning, allowing only an unearned run over the next seven innings .

Pacifica’s Delaina Ma’ae homered twice and drove in five runs in two playoff games this week.

Pacifica Coach Tony Ardiano high-fives a coach after the Mariners rallied to defeat La Mirada, 6-5.

Michelle Meta of Pacifica was hit by a pitch on the arm to start the eighth inning. She would score from first on Brynne Nally’s double.

Freshman designated hitter Leyla Ayres celebrates her fifth inning home run that produced Pacifica’s first two runs.

Leyla Ayres’ 2-run, fifth-inning home run for Pacifica landed among a cluster of fans behind the left field wall.

Delania Ma’ae’s 2-run home run gave Pacifica a short-lived 5-4 lead in the top of the seventh.

Brynne Nally of Pacifica doubles off fence, driving in winning run in Pacifica’s 6-5 win
over La Mirada.

Thursday was a picture postcard day at the John Glenn High softball complex in Norwalk

La Mirada second baseman Alyssa Avila just missed a diving catch of soft liner that went for a base hit.

Pacifica second baseman Alys Del Val throws out a La Mirada runner at first.

Brynne Nally celebrates after her eighth inning double produced the deciding run in the win over La Mirada.

Pacifica’s Kayli Counts celebrates her double.

Delaina Ma’ae follows theflight of her 2-run, seventh-inning home run to left.

Pacifica opened the fifth with a walk and freshman designated player Leyla Ayers launched a 2-run blast into a cluster of fans standing beyond the left field fence.

Six of the next eight Mariner batters had been retired when Ayres opened the seventh with a single to right. She advanced to second on a fly out and to third on a passed ball. She then scored on Nally’s fly ball to left, reducing the deficit to 4-3.

Kaniya Bragg kept the inning alive with a two-out single and Delania Ma’ae followed with a booming home run to left, putting the Mariners ahead for the first time, 5-4.

The lead didn’t last long. Two Pacifica errors in the bottom of the seventh and a base hit sent Alyssa Avila home with the tying run before Nally struck out the final two batters of the inning.

Michela Meza was hit by a pitch to open the top of the eighth for Pacifica and was still at first two outs later. Nally added another chapter to her remarkable performance with a rocket to the base of
the wall in left center for a double, Meza scoring easily from first.

There was one more test for the Mariners … La Mirada’s Rebecca Eckart walked to open the bottom of the eighth, but Nally induced a ground ball which shortstop Ksniya Bragg, second baseman
Alysa Del Val and first baseman Annika Sogsti turned into a quick double play.

Nally then recorded the final out on a strike out, earning the Mariners a home game Tuesday against the winner of Friday’s Los Alamitos-Mission Viejo game.

It is the third year in a row Pacifica has advanced to the quarterfinal round.

—Courtesy Jim McCormack, For OC Sports Zone