5-A SOFTBALL : Mistake Opens the Door for Cypress

For someone who had just pitched her team to a Southern Section softball championship, Monica Jimenez was fairly subdued.

Jimenez pitched a two-hitter and struck out 12 to lead Cypress to a 1-0 victory over Simi Valley in the Southern Section 5-A final Saturday night at Mayfair Park.

To Jimenez, however, it didn’t seem like anything special.

“It was just like any other game, just with more fans,” Jimenez said.

Jimenez’s after-game calm equaled her poise during a tense pitchers’ duel with Simi Valley’s Sara Griffin. Griffin allowed only four hits and struck out 11 and matched Jimenez goose egg for goose egg--with one key exception.

Cypress (25-5) scored the game’s only run in the fourth inning when Julie Adams scored from first on a throwing error by Simi Valley catcher Kathy Beasley. Adams reached base on a fielder’s choice and then came home when Beasley’s attempted pickoff throw sailed into right-center and rolled to the fence.

Adams, a 5-foot-9 first baseman, scored easily on the play, which didn’t surprise Jimenez.

“She’s got those long legs that can really get going,” Jimenez said. “I knew she’d make it.”

Cypress Coach Janelle Frese knew the wild pickoff throw might be the Centurions’ only chance to score against Griffin.

“You see the run coming, you have to take the opportunity,” Frese said. “This is the kind of game that comes down to who is going to make the first mistake.”

Jimenez didn’t make any mistakes, even when Simi Valley (26-3) gave her opportunities. In the top of the third, Simi Valley put runners on second and third with one out, but Jimenez responded by striking out the next two batters to end the Pioneers’ only serious scoring threat.

“I wasn’t nervous, because I’ve been in those situations before,” Jimenez said. “I knew what I had to do and I knew I had my defense behind me.”

Frese also had no fear--at least on the surface.

“I get worried when there are runners on, especially in a game like this, but as a coach, I can’t show that I’m worried,” Frese said. “(But) I’ve never seen a pitcher who has so much composure as Monica has.”

Cypress also won Southern Section championships in 1983 and 1987 while competing in Division 4-A. The Centurions entered this year’s playoffs as a wild-card team after a second-place finish in the Empire League behind Los Alamitos.

Jimenez retired the last 10 batters she faced and posted her fifth consecutive shutout.