Solid pitching effort lifts La Mirada to victory over La Habra in Division 1 semifinal

La Habra and La Mirada players exchange handshakes after the game. (PHOTOS: Tom Connolly, For OC Sports Zone).

La Habra’s hopes for a CIF Southern Section championship came to an end Saturday.

Alison Ortega pitched a complete game to lead La Mirada to a 5-1 victory over La Habra in a CIF Division 1 semifinal game at La Habra. 

Ortega, a junior right-hander and a Harvard-commit, gave up eight hits, struck out seven, and successfully worked out of several jams to propel the Matadores (26-4) to their first finals appearance since 2011. 

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La Mirada has won 17 of its last 19 games and will face JSerra, which defeated Norco 2-0 on Saturday, for the championship. The game will be played at Deanna Manning Stadium in Irvine next week.

“The game was so intense, there was so much yelling, and, for sure, I was nervous, but it was exciting,” said Ortega, who retired the Highlanders in order in the bottom of the first inning on three pitches. “It took a while to get used to the umpires calls but then I settled down and the game slowed down and I was calm.” 

In the top of the first inning, the Matadores first three batters walked to load the bases.

One out later with the bases still loaded, Fatima Serna was hit by a pitch, forcing in a run and giving La Mirada 1-0 lead.

After La Habra starter Samantha Cervantes recorded a strike out for the second out of the inning, freshman third baseman Rylee Thurmond drilled a two-out, two-run double to increase the Matadores lead to 3-0. 

Thurmond had an outstanding game with three hits and two RBI and was on base three times.

“It’s a local rivalry game and there was a lot of chirping going on,” said Thurmond. “It’s exciting to win and be going to the finals.”   

Mireya Gonzalez blasted her fifth homer of the season high over the center field fence to lead off the La Habra bottom of the second inning for La Habra, trimming the lead to 3-1. Cervantes settled down after a shaky first inning and pitched well for the Highlanders (23-8).

Reese Hilliard led off the La Mirada fifth inning with a double and scored on a two-out La Habra fielding miscue, upping the Matadores lead to 4-1. La Mirada added a run in the seventh inning to increase its lead to 5-1. 

Cervantes pitched 5 and 2/3 innings. The right-handed senior gave up five hits and struck out four. She was relieved by Madison Payne with two outs in the sixth inning. 

Ortega pitched out out jams in the third, fifth, sixth and seventh innings to keep the Matadores comfortably ahead.

The Highlanders stranded nine base runners in the game. In the seventh inning, Makenna Caffrey doubled to left center with one out and went to third on Eliana Corona’s single.

One out later, Gonzalez walked to load the bases and bring the tying run to the plate. However, Ortega was able to get Georgia Rickenbacker to ground into a game-ending fielders choice to secure the win and send La Mirada to the CIF finals.

La Mirada Coach Brent Tuttle was pleased with his team’s effort.

“Alison (Ortega) was a little bit off but she worked with her catcher Riley Hilliard and Riley helped calm her down,” said Tuttle. “I’m excited for the girls to be going to the finals. We graduated 12 seniors last year and today we had four freshmen out there. They played as a unit.”

Despite the setback La Habra coaches and players remained proud.

“We had three great wins in the playoffs, knocking off Los Altos, the top-seed Murrieta Mesa and beating a tough Orange Lutheran team, and today we outhit them, but we just didn’t get timely hitting when we needed it,” said Highlanders Athletic Director and interim coach Paul Caffrey. 

Caffrey, along with his assistant coaches Robert Morales, Maleena Esparza, Steve Padilla, Milee Viallacana, and Savannah Teurville, helped take over the duties of head coach the week that the playoffs began after Coach Vince Peralta stepped down due to health reasons.

“These girls are special,” said Morales. “After our coaching change, they focused immediately and took on the motto, ‘why not us’ and continued to work hard and won three playoff games.” 

Makenna Caffrey continued her spectacular sophomore campaign for the Highlanders as she pounded out three hits and recorded all three putouts in left field in the third inning. 

Despite the setback, Cervantes and Gonzalez said they were proud of the team.

“Nobody thought we would get this far, but we came together as a team,” said Cervantes. “I’m so proud of our team.”

“We took on the attitude, ‘Why not us,’” said Gonzalez, a junior who reached base three times on Saturday. “Positive things lie ahead for our team and program and we’re looking forward to next season.”

Notes:

—-Both La Mirada and La Habra have qualified for the CIF State So Cal regional playoffs that will take place the week after the CIF championships are complete. 

—-La Habra reached the semifinals by beating Los Altos, Murrieta Mesa and Orange Lutheran while La Mirada defeated Los Alamitos, Palos Verdes and Etiwanda in the first three rounds of the playoffs. 

—-La Habra has seven players who have received college scholarships to play softball in college next season: Samatha Cervantes (University of Jamestown), Evelyn Dickerson (Pace University), Alyssa Hernandez (Siena University), Madison Payne (Holy Cross), Georgia Rickenbacker (Dartmouth College), Maraya Salas (Colorado State University Pueblo) and Milee Valencia (University Redlands).  

—-La Mirada has three juniors (Riley Hilliard (Oklahoma), Reese Hilliard (Stanford) and Ortega (Harvard) that have commited to play college softball.

—The Matadores pulled off an unusual 3-4-3 putout to end the third inning.

—-La Mirada center fielder Milani Cruz made an outstanding diving catch for the second out of the first inning.