One of the more interesting stories in high school softball this spring has been the play of Pacifica High out of Garden Grove, Calif.

Ranked No. 3 nationally in the preseason FAB 50, the Mariners looked to be one of the top 5 teams in terms of talent starting with perhaps the best pitching duo in the country in senior Kaylee Carlson (North Carolina) and junior Kaley Winegarner (Stanford), who has had to overcome a serious knee injury suffered last year.

Add to that a roster dotted with DI talent including infielders Nicole DeWitt (Florida), Brooke Marquez (Northwestern) and Faith Canfield (Michigan) plus catcher Dejah Mulipola (Arizona) and on paper you have a team that can contend for a title and beat anyone, even the nation’s top team which it will face this week.  Twice.

Pacifica is now 23-4-1 and is ranked a quiet No. 11 in the country—quiet in the sense that the Mariners aren’t getting the national buzz as a national championship contender that others are getting, but that could change if the team can make a run it’s certainly capable of in the playoffs.

Led by Head Coach Mark Campbell, one of the top high school and club coaches in the country, Pacifica has suffered three of its losses to nationally ranked teams:  two to top-ranked Mission Viejo and one to No. 26 Esperanza along with a defeat to Cypress in its league.

On the positive side, the Mariners have played well lately against top competition. The Pacifica schedule is one of the toughest in California, if not the nation, and  was end-loaded with challenging contests by design.

The Orange County team beat and tied Chino High, the two-time Div. II CIF champs,  and All State pitcher Miranda Viramontes (Utah) last week in a double-header and then defeated Yorba Linda and talented pitcher Paige von Sprecken (San Diego) on Tuesday as Carlson pitched a two-hitter with one walk and a season-high 15 strikeouts and Irieanna Naea went 3-for-4 with two doubles, two stolen bases and two RBI to clinch its sixth straight Empire League championship.

Tuesday’s win gave Kaylee Carlson (16-3) her 71st career win (versus only nine losses) as a Mariner.  She appears to be heating up at the right time and also has 171 strikeouts with only 14 walks on the season and a sterling 0.73 ERA against elite competition. For the year she’s only allowing the opposition to have only a .141 batting average against her and, remember, this is against the Mission Viejo’s of the softball world.

This week the team will finish the regular season with a double header against the nation’s No. 1 team, Mission Viejo led by pitcher Taylor McQuillin (Arizona), which can only help prepare the team for the tough one-and-done format ahead in the CIF-SS post-season.

This unusual late-season match-up was smartly planned by the two teams to help prepare them for the playoff run.

“The Mission Viejo double header has been scheduled from the start for good reason,” says a source close to the situation.  “ First, the teams compete in different divisions and will not face each other in the CIF playoffs and secondly both teams wanted to end their season facing strong pitching to ready themselves heading into the post-season.”

Originally a double-header, they are now playing a single game due to extreme heat—the Southern Calif. weather forecast is for 100 degrees on Thursday.

While the game likely won’t impact playoff seedings or even national rankings, it could give a preview of which team is as hot as the weather as the CIF championship runs begin very soon.

 

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Pacifica’s Offensive Power:

Here’s the up-to-date stats of the key players leading the Mariners offense:

Nicole DeWitt (Sr. – Florida)
Has .424 avg  .553 OBP, 24 runs scored, 18 RBI, 5 doubles, 4 home runs and 12 stolen bases.  Career .450 avg, .557 OBP 112 runs scored, 75 RBI, 28 doubles, 5 triples, 20 home runs and 38 stolen bases

Brooke Marquez (Sr. – Northwestern)
Batting .338, .472 OBP, 24 runs scored and 7 doubles. Career .286 avg, .391 OBP, 58 runs scored and 10 doubles

Faith Canfield (Jr. – Michigan)
Hitting .407, .448 OBP, 30 runs scored, 28 RBI, 5 doubles and 3 home runs

Irieanna Naea (So. – CS Fullerton)
Has a .423 avg, .534 OBP, 24 runs scored, 31 RBI, 17 walks, 7 doubles and 5 home runs and leads the team with 16 steals

Dejah Mulipola (So. – Arizona)
Compiled a .354 avg, .419 OBP, 28 RBI, 7 doubles and 1 home run