CIF softball roundup: Lakewood among second round wiers

The Lakewood Lancers took an aggressive game plan to Edison on Tuesday in the second round of the CIF Southe Section Division 1 playoffs and came away with a 7-1 victory. Lakewood (26-4) will visit Orange Lutheran on Thursday for the quarterfinal round. Lancer ace Vanessa Foreman only allowed three hits and an uneaed run during her complete-game performance. The sophomore struck out five batters and threw a first-pitch strike to 21 of 26 batters.

CJ Apacible’s two-out RBI single in the first iing gave Foreman a lead she never relinquished. Back-to-back home runs from Karina Ibarra and Montana Dixon in the fifth iing broke the game open, and Lakewood used aggressive base ruing to bat around and score four insurance runs in the sixth iing. Ibarra scored three runs and drove in two while all but one spot in the Lancers’ lineup reached base.

“That’s our philosophy,” Lakewood head coach Andy Miramontes said of being aggressive. “We’re playing our best softball of the season by far.”

- JJ Fiddler

ST. ANTHONY 1, OXFORD ACADEMY 0 >> Senior pitcher Angelica Ponce picked up her 18th win of the year with a complete-game shutout, sending ther Saints (19-5) to their second consecutive trip to the quarterfinals.

“It really is these girls,” St. Anthony coach Adrian Ponce said. “We just guide them and hope they take our advice. We really coach them, we can be hard on them, and they’ve accepted us.”

For Ponce’s daughter, the team’s ace, the entire season has been preparation for getting back to the quarterfinals and trying to make it one round further.

“There have been games that haven’t been as challenging for me,” she admitted, referencing her 1.03 season ERA and 170-16 strikeouts-to-walk ratio. “But those are the games that my dad preaches to me about mental strength, and I need that for games like this.”

Ponce pitched on the knife’s edge for the whole game, and scattered four hits, striking out four and walking one. Her defense, led by catcher Nathalie Kim, played a stellar game as well. Kim threw out a baseruer at second, and the Saints tued a double play thanks to a heads-up tag. In the secodn iing, Angela Younger singled, and then scored on a deep hit from Fayth McQueary. St. Anthony will travel to face Sierra Canyon on Thursday in the quarterfinals, with a game scheduled for 11 a.m. due to Sierra Canyon’s graduation later in the day.

- Mike Guardabascio

DOWNEY CALVARY CHAPEL 13, KATELLA 2 (6 INNINGS) >> The Grizzlies (21-2) cranked out 14 hits, including three home runs, and were never in any sort of trouble during their second-round Division 6 contest at home. They got it started in the bottom of the first iing on a sacrifice fly from Tiana Rodriguez and broke it open two iings later on an inside-the-park grand slam by Bella Veloz. Rodriguez added a homer in the sixth, before Miranda Norman tacked on one of her own, driving in three runs to end it. Freshman Raylene Roybal (complete game, four hits, eight strikeouts, one walk) didn’t allow a hit until the fifth iing en route to the win and helped her own cause with an RBI ground-rule double in the fourth that would have been a home run had it not ended up under the fence in left field.

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“Just awesome hitting,” DCC head coach Al Rodriguez said. “We’re deep, one through nine, 11 or 12 deep. We’re a strong team and I’m just proud of them. They work hard and are doing an awesome job.”

The Grizzlies will face Pasadena Poly in the quarterfinals on Thursday.

-Daniel Van Hoosier

REDONDO 2, MAYFAIR 0 >> Behind a complete-game shutout from senior Kathryn Ung, Redondo defeated Mayfair in the second round of the Division 2 playoffs. The Monsoons struck out 11 times against Ung and had just three hits. When Mayfair did get on base, it couldn’t execute. Sophomore Sarah Clausen singled leading off the third iing and stole second, but two strikeouts and a flyout ended the threat. In the fifth, sophomore Haley Davis singled and advanced to third on a stolen base and wild pitch, but again Ung buckled down and eaed a strikeout to end the iing. Junior Makea Stram started in the circle for Mayfair and went all seven iings, limiting the Sea Hawks to two runs despite battling her control and not having a single clean iing all game.

- James Crabtree-Haigan

LOS ALAMITOS 7, CHINO 2 >> The Griffins got a win on the road behind two runs in the first iing, one in the fourth, two in the sixth and two in the seventh and will go on to play Vista Murrieta in the Divison 1 quarterfinals.

NORWALK 2, ALEMANY 1 >> The Lancers used a final at-bat hit to defeat Alemany and will meet Burbank Burroughs in the Division 3 quarterfinals. Serena Nicolas and Ashley Ponce delivered RBIs for Norwalk, while sophomore Breaa Vasquez (complete game, nine strikeouts, one walk, five hits allowed) picked up the win.

GAHR 15, SUMMIT 3 >> The Gladiators advanced in Division 3 after getting four RBIs from Alyssa Kumiyama and two apiece from Alyssa Cuffia, Giselle Tapia and Paloma Usquiano in a blowout at home. Danielle Martinez got the win after allowing three runs and striking out eight with no walks over 4 2/3 iings. Gahr will face Redlands East Valley on Thursday.

DON LUGO 3, WARREN 1 >> Don Lugo has had its way with local competition so far in the Division 3 playoffs, outscoring Cerritos and Warren by a combined total of 13-1 on its way to the quarterfinalss, setting up a date with top-seeded Grand Terrace.

ACADEMY OF CAREERS AND EXPLORATION 6, AVALON 0 >> The season came to an end for the Lancers as the offense couldn’t keep up an ACE squad that scored one in the first, one in the sixth and four in the seventh iing.