(Orange) – By John M. Sherrard – A very successful forty-win season came to an end for the Mountie softball team Sunday afternoon, but not without a valiant effort. They fell just a game short of advancing to the CCCAA state final four in search of their fifth title.
Mt. SAC finished with an overall record of 40-7 and won the South Coast Conference with an 18-3 record and had numerous post-season awards for the players.
No. 3 seed Mt. SAC, winners of four state titles (2003, '05, '07, '09), needed to win two games to advance to the state championships in Bakersfield next weekend.
They won an elimination game, 10-2, in a game halted after five innings due to the eight-run mercy rule, but lost the second game, 6-1, sending No. 2 Santiago Canyon to its second state appearance in the last three years.
"They've done an incredible job this season and they have this under their belt now," Mt. SAC fourth-year coach Ruby Rojas said. "They have this experience (Super Regional) and that's deadly. "We were one game down and at the end of the day it's tough to come back and win back-to-back games. I'm so proud of these girls. "There is absolutely no regrets and at the end of the day this team grew. If you would have seen us in the fall, it's night and day."
Some of accolades of this team was having the top base stealer in the state, freshman Kayla Sok (Glendora HS) with 40 thefts and the top ERA in the state with a team-leading 1.21.
That was accomplished with an unheard of three freshmen pitchers, Tiffany Kennedy-Cummings (Chino HS) with a 0.99, Racqual Espinoza of Golden Valley HS with a 1.09 and Jessica Olvera of John F. Kennedy HS with a 1.69.
Kennedy-Cummings (16-4) was named CCCAA state Pitcher of the Year, while Olvera (12-2) and sophomore first baseman Aimee Rodriguez (John Burroughs HS) were named to the All Southern California Region team and All SCC.
Freshmen Alyssa Rasso (Corona HS) and Kayla Sok (Glendora HS) were named second team All SCC and sophomore Danielle Jeffress (Kaiser HS) was named to the All SCC honorable mention.
"It's a great feeling to know that we've gotten this far with us freshmen and we get another year to do it all over again," Sok said.
And topping it all off was fourth-year head coach Rojas being named SCC Coach of the Year for the second time in four years.
In the first-game victory of the championship Super Regional final, Mt. SAC scored four runs in the first two innings, while Kennedy-Cummings was mowing the Hawks down. She retired nine of the first ten batters, including four Ks, before they could get on the scoreboard with two runs, to trail 4-2 in the fourth.
But the floodgates opened up in the bottom half of the inning as the Mounties sent 10 batters to the plate, scoring six for an insurmountable, 10-2, lead. They had five hits in the inning, highlighted by a pair of two-run singles by Rasso (2 for 3) and freshman third baseman Andrea Contreras (2 for 3) from Chatsworth high.
In the second game the Mounties jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first inning after Sok scored on a single by freshman catcher Taylor Jaurique (Wilson HS). However, both Jaurique (double) and Jeffress, who singled in the inning, were both cut down in a double play at third and home respectively to end what might have been a big inning.
The Mounties stranded five runners on base and scattered only four hits the rest of the way.
Sophomore second baseman Anise Avalos (Claremont HS), who was 2 for 3 in the second game, was a part of last years' team that lost in the first round of the playoffs.
"Last year, after our first round loss, we had a better feeling about this year and worked hard to get here (Super Regionals)," Avalos said.
For more information contact the Mt. SA Sports Information Office at 909-274-4630.