Woodbridge shortstop Hayley Mihut (right) recorded two of the three outs and threw to third baseman Jordan Martinez to complete a triple play. (Photo: Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone).
It doesn’t happen very often, but Woodbridge’s softball team turned a triple play Monday afternoon in a 5-2 Pacific Coast League victory over Northwood at Bill Barber Park.
To see the slide show, please click on the first photo
The Warriors got a strong pitching effort from Ashlee Laver, who went the distance, striking out six and scattering six hits in the makeup game.
Woodbridge (2-0) is trying to win its third consecutive PCL title.
Northwood (1-1) loaded the bases with no outs in the second inning.
Then the Timberwolves’ lead-off hitter lined a shot to shortstop Hayley Mihut who grabbed the ball in the air, stepped on second base for the second out and threw to third base where Jordan Martinez tagged out the runner who was heading for home to complete the triple play.
“It just happened really quickly, my team was talking to me so it was kind of easy to tell where I needed to go,” Mihut said. “I was going that way anyway, so I stepped on second and turned and threw to three.”
“The shortstop made a good play on it, but our base-runners are kind of both young kids,” said Northwood Coach Blair Ota.
The game was tied 2-2 after one inning and Northwood was threatening so the triple play definitely changed the complexion of the game.
“I think it just froze the game,” said Woodbridge Coach Jerry Rose. “It was bases loaded and pretty much the heart of their order (coming up). Ashlee made a good pitch, she got the ball in on her which kind of created a little bit of a jam shot and the shortstop had the presence of mind to go for the next runner and then I heard everyone on the team screaming, ‘three, three, three.’ That was great. They are very rare.”
Rose and former long-time Woodbridge Coach Alan Dugard, who was in the stands, said they had never seen a triple play on the high school level.
“It was amazingly done,” Dugard said. “The shortstop picked it up immediately, made the play at second and threw to third to get the third out. It is very hard to do. Everything was in her favor because the runner on third base was going and the bases were loaded with no outs and I’m sure Blair told his runner to go on the crack of the bat and she did and that was the third out.”
The first inning was a bit out of the ordinary too.
Northwood scored two runs in the first. Kassidy Lancos reached on an error, went to second on a sacrifice by Miranda Mell and scored on an RBI triple by Allison Morikawa. Then Delany Wong delivered an RBI single to put the Timberwolves ahead 2-0.
In the bottom of the first, the Warriors answered against Northwood starting pitcher Emma McMurray. Cadee Wiviott reached on an error, stole third and scored on an error. Kate Lim walked, stole third and came on on an error.
The Warriors went ahead 3-2 with a run in the third inning. Lim reached on an error in the outfield and scored on a wild pitch.
In the fourth inning, Woodbridge (6-7-1 overall) added two more runs on a triple by Wiviott to take a 5-2 lead.
Laver finished strong, scattering four hits the rest of the way.
“Ashlee had a little control issues early on and there were some pitches early that probably could have been called strikes,” Rose said. “I wish I had 15 Ashlee’s because she just never changes her demeanor. We can be up 15 or down 15 and she just stays level and does what she just keeps doing what she needs to do.
“She has the perfect mentality to lead a team in the circle.”
Woodbridge made the most of its scoring chances taking advantage of its speed at the top of the lineup.
“The top of our lineup with Cadee Wiviott and Kate Lim is always huge, we’ve lived with speed here the last few years and a lot of it graduated but we still have those two,” Rose said. “Cadee Wiviott has done a great job moving into the lead-off spot this year. She had that key hit later in the game to open things up.”
Northwood (3-8-1 overall) was victimized by four errors in the game.
“I thought we played OK for us,” Ota, the coach said. “We made a lot of mistakes early in the game. We gave up too many bases early and it was just one missed pitch at the end with Kate Wiviott. We missed the pitch vertically and she just hit it.
“It was kind of a sloppy game, but I think that’s way our league is. We play and pretty tough pre-season. We’re always going to play Mater Dei and Aliso Niguel. We’ve gradually been getting a little bit better, but we’re still making a lot of defensive mistakes. I think through the league we should be OK.”
Center fielder Grace Kearney had two of the hits for the Timberwolves.
-Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com
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