Yesterday, I ran a piece on Pacifica of Garden Grove, Calif. — ranked No. 11 in this week’s FAB 50 — wondering if they could make a run in the playoffs that could make them a candidate, if the cards fell right, to be a National Champion contender.

After all, Red Mountain out of Mesa, Ariz., took the No. 1 spot last year and they had five losses.

It will be improbable with several undefeated teams ahead of them as well as the Florida 7A state champ, St. Thomas Aquinas (Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.) which was No. 4 this week and is finished for the year, but Thursday night the Mariners showed they can beat anyone on any given day as they handed No. 1 Mission Viejo its first loss of the season in an exciting 2-1 nine-inning victory.

Know that Mission Viejo had beaten Pacifica twice earlier in the year, once at Bullhead, Ariz. and once on Pacifica’s home field but Thursday it was Pacifica’s turn to pull out a tightly contested win.

Diablos ace Taylor McQuillin suffered her first loss of the regular reason by giving up 2 runs (1 earned) on 7 hits and 13 strikeouts in the complete game.

Fellow Arizona commit Alyssa Palomino went 1-for-4 with a solo lead-off home run in the third inning but that would be Mission’s only run off Pacifica pitcher Kaylee Carlson who scattered four hits over the nine innings while striking out seven.

Carlson improved to 17-3 on the year and was backed by infielder Faith Canfield, a Michigan verbal, who went 3-for-4 including a game winning walk-off home run in the bottom of the ninth with two outs and a 2-2 count.

Sophomore  Irieanna Naea (Cal State Fullerton verbal) continues to impress as she went 3-for-3 with an RBI.

Now, it gets interesting: it would seem that Amador Valley (Pleasanton, Calif.) led by the phenomenal Johanna Grauer would move to the top spot, but it’s conceivable that Mission Viejo could stay there even with the one loss.  Alexander Central (Taylorsville, N.C.) is looking strong at the No. 3 spot.

Best of all, though, there’s a lot of playoff ball left to be played and the next few weeks will be fun to watch!