IRVINE, CALIFORNIA — Santa Ana Mater Dei’s softball team was having the time of its lives, especially the outfielders who danced along to the Village People’s “YMCA” during the fifth-inning stretch in the middle of their showdown against Trinity League-rival Orange Lutheran in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 championship game on Saturday night at Bill Barber Park in Irvine.

Just a couple of weeks ago the Monarchs had to win a third-place playoff game to earn a spot in the Division 1 playoffs, but here they were pounding out 16 hits against Stanford-committed pitcher Maddy Dwyer on the way to an 8-2 win over the Lancers, who entered the game ranked No. 1 in the state by CalHiSports.com and No. 1 in the nation by FloSoftball.com.

“I think overall we just hit as a team and our energy was really high and that helped a lot,” said Notre Dame-committed outfielder Emma Clark, who went 2 for 4 with a double, a run and an RBI. “I think we just learned to really rely on each other, not just our starters, but everybody on the bench and everybody that was injured, we just all relied on each other. The biggest thing was we just all had fun and really enjoyed the game today.”

Mater Dei, ranked No. 7 in the state, fell behind early when Taylor Whitney drove in Dani Dawson with a single in the bottom of the second, but the Monarchs responded immediately with an RBI single by George Washington-bound Priscilla Martinez and a sacrifice fly by Virginia-commit Donna Friedman to give the Monarchs a 2-1 edge in the top of the third.

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College of Charleston-bound Yaritza Felix, who went 3 for 5 with a run and three RBI, added an RBI single to push the lead to 3-1 in the top of the fourth. The lead was 4-2 before the Monarchs blew the game open with four runs on seven hits in the top of the seventh to seal OLu’s fate.

Felix, Martinez, Friedman, Loyola Marymount-commit Maddie Flores, freshman speedster Nyomi Jones and Clark all had multi-hit games and everyone in the starting lineup also had at least one hit for the Monarchs.

“I believe that throughout this whole tournament we were always underestimated,” Martinez said. “Everyone thought we were going to lose. We kept our mind straight and kept going out one game at a time and everyone said, ‘We can do this. One game at a time, but we can do this.’ It’s all mental, but I know 1-9 we can do this.”

Mater Dei ace Gabby Sandoval, who signed with Southern Oregon, was spectacular throughout the playoffs, recording three shutouts, including a one-hitter to beat defending champion Norco in the semifinals, and holding top-seeded Etiwanda, which had hit 65 home runs, to one run. Sandoval allowed four hits, five walks, one earned run and got four strikeouts, including one to get out of a bases-loaded jam in bottom of the fifth, to get the complete game win over OLu.

“Yeah, I was really happy with my team,” Sandoval said. “We were just hitting the ball and executing really well and it just helped me out on the mound with confidence and everything. And the defense was backing me up really well too. That really helped.”

The last time the Monarchs (27-7) reached the finals was in 2000 when they lost to Foothill, 1-0, in eight innings in Mater Dei coach Tia Meza’s senior year. It was the first time the Monarchs won a championship since 1998. Meza is taking over as the athletic director at Mater Dei, so this was her final season as the softball team’s coach.

“It’s bittersweet, the fact that it is my last game coaching with them,” said Meza, a former Gatorade national player of the year. “I’m so proud of them. To be an alumni and be able to a part of that again … it’s great.”

Orange Lutheran (30-4), which was playing in the finals for the first time since winning back-to-back championships in 2001 and 2002, had lost to Mater Dei, 6-0, in the semifinals of the Alan Dugard Classic before putting together an 18-game winning streak, which included 9-1 and 14-3 Trinity League wins over Mater Dei, before the loss to the Monarchs in the finals.

NORTH TORRANCE TAKES DOWN RIVAL IN DIVISION 4

There were high emotions and nerves heading into North Torrance’s showdown against Pioneer League-rival Torrance in the CIF Southern Section Division 4 championship game on Saturday morning at Bill Barber Park in Irvine.

North Torrance ace Alyssa Loza, who transferred from Torrance to North Torrance after last season, found herself at the center of much of that attention, but Arizona State-bound pitcher pulled herself together after a rocky start to shut out her former team, 5-0, and give the Saxons their first championship since winning back-to-back titles in 2008 and 2009.

“I think I was just a little bit overexcited,” Loza said. “It’s a great game, two great teams going at it. I knew I had to calm down. My catcher did a great job, keeping me calm and telling me I just need to hit my spots and trust my defense. Once I did that. We knew it was going to go our way.”

Loza walked the first two batters she faced in the bottom of the first, then gave up a two-out walk to load the bases. That brought San Diego State-bound Marissa Moreno, who got the complete game win in last year’s Division 4 final, to the plate and Loza struck her out to end the threat.

Loza gave up two more walks and the Tartars loaded the bases again in the bottom of the second, bringing Cal State Northridge-bound CeCe Da Costa to the plate and again Loza came through with a strikeout to get ot of the jam.

Loza settled didn’t give up another walk for the rest of the game and finished with four strikeouts to record the three-hit shutout.

North Torrance got back-to-back one-out singles from Shonnie Baker and Veronica Garcia in the top of the fourth. A wild pitch moved the runners over and Baker scored on a two-out wild pitch to give the Saxons a 1-0 lead.

Delaware State-bound Desiree Moreno had an RBI single and Baker smashed a three-run homer to center field in the top of the fifth to make it 5-0 for the Saxons.


Abbi Alexander went 2 for 3 with a double and a run and Baker finished 2 for 4 with a homer, two runs and three RBI for North Torrance (29-6-1). Katelyn Christian went 2 for 4 with a double for Torrance (25-10), which shared the Pioneer League title with North Torrance this season.