History will have to wait.

Entering Saturday night's CIF Southern Section Division I championship game at Deanna Manning Stadium in Irvine (Calif.), the Norco High softball team was attempting to nail down the final No. 1 national ranking and become the first unbeaten team from that section's top division in 32 years.

It didn't happen. It wasn't that the Cougars succumbed to pressure. It was more a matter of one great team beating the other as Los Alamitos (which was No. 2 in the FAB 50 national rankings) posted the 3-1 victory.

So instead of Norco being the mythical national champion at 34-0, it will be Los Alamitos instead at 27-3. Many will notice in the next national rankings that there will be some teams placed lower than the Griffins with better records. But in all three of Los Al's losses, head coach Rob Weil's team got to play the team it lost to later on and won all three rematches. In addition to a 1-0 loss earlier to Norco at the Michelle Carew Classic, the Griffins also avenged losses to both La Habra and Mission Viejo.

"Not losing a game at all was their motivation, but for us we've never lost to a team coming back to play them a second time," said Los Al senior Mary Iakopo, an Oregon signee and member of the U.S. Junior National Team. "We had the goal of playing them a second time in this game for a long time."

For those with a heart, it also was hard to see Norco take the loss since the team's top pitcher and hitter, senior Taylor Dockins, had to bounce back from a serious cancer diagnosis from last summer.

"I won it (CIFSS D1 title) as a sophomore and now I know what it feels like to win and lose," said Dockins, who will play next season at Cal State Fullerton. "I'm just blessed to be out there with my teammates. It didn't turn out the way we wanted and it's tough, but it was tougher in the hospital."

Los Alamitos struck first in the bottom of the third inning. Jenna Kean started it off with an infield hit and was followed by a liner from leadoff hitter Allison Englant that was off the glove of Dockins for a second straight hit. With runners at second and third later in the inning after a double steal and one out, Iakopo stepped up and ripped another hard shot at first base that was slowed down but rolled down the right field line. Both Kean and Englant scored and while the official scoring showed an error no one on press row thought it was an error and credited Iakopo with a two-run single. Further damage for Norco was limited when the next batter hit into a double play.

The Griffins added another run in the bottom of the fourth. Cami Sellers sparked the rally with a one-out double. On the next at-bat, Caitie Ladd hit a grounder in which it appeared Norco had thrown out pinch-runner Myah Iakopo at third but that call was reversed, creating a first-and-third situation with one out. Allisha Martinez then hit another grounder in which the only play was at second base, allowing Iakopo to score.

Norco, meanwhile, didn't get its first hit off of Los Al starting pitcher Ryan Denhart until Dockins lined a single up the middle to lead off the fifth inning. The Cougars, however, weren't able to advance a runner into scoring position later in the frame.

After an uneventful sixth inning, other than a double by Los Al's Alexa Schultz, Norco showed its championship pedigree in the top of the seventh. Needing three runs to keep its national title hopes alive, Mikayla Allee got the Cougar faithful pumped up with a soaring solo homer. After Denhart got super soph Kinzie Hansen to look at a third strike, Dockins then came through with a single. That set it up for sophomore Paige Smith, who like Hansen also struck out on a called strike. Sierra Marshall was up next and smoked a drive toward the left-center grap but Los Al's Kean made a diving catch for the third out.

If Kean had not made the catch, Dockins would have scored the second run and the tying run would have been at least on second base.

"Those last two strikeouts were huge," said Weil, who won his first CIFSS title for Los Alamitos but has five others from his previous stint at Pacifica (Garden Grove). "(Denhart) was using a lot of screwballs. She pitched great against a great team."

Norco head coach Rick Robinson argued several umpiring calls during the game, but was more than gracious afterward in crediting Denhart and her teammates.

"She did a great job and Rob did a great job setting up our hitters," said Robinson, whose team was trying to match the accomplishment of Ocean View (Huntington Beach) going unbeaten and winning the top CIFSS division in 1985. "It's just one of those things. I think if these two teams played 10 times, it would be 5-5. We knew that going in they were a great team. Tonight, they just played better than we did."

Denhart, who will play next at Maryland, finished with three hits allowed, no walks and struck out six.

The Griffins won't be officially crowned national champions until the final rankings are done after all state playoffs around the nation are complete and that will take at least one more weekend.

"Absolutely, to be No. 1 in the nation is just a great feeling," Denhart said. "We've been working toward this since the school year started."

Weil also had a No. 1 team in the nation during his years at Pacifica and has been building toward this kind of finish at Los Alamitos for several years.

"What I'm happiest about is the 14 seniors who have been dedicated toward this kind of season for four years," Weil said. "I mean we're not your normal team with 21 kids in the program with D1 offers, but still it takes a lot of dedication and a lot time to do this."

Written by Mark Tennis

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