Woodbridge’s Watley Is Standout Among All-Stars

Now, Woodbridge shortstop Natasha Watley said Wednesday, it’s “on to bigger and better things.”

Watley turned the eighth annual Orange County all-star softball game into her personal showcase. She had an all-star record four hits, scored two runs and drove in two more as the South beat the North, 7-0, at Cal State Fullerton.

“She’s a great player who had a great day,” Sonora Coach John Link said. “Driving that ball over the right fielder’s head. . . . We were trying to stop her from beating us with the little ball.”

Watley had two slap hits and two doubles, connecting safely against Pacifica’s Jessica Soto, El Dorado’s Melissa Hobson, Brea Olinda’s Tiffany Whitton, and Garden Grove’s Nuvia Marti.

Watley finished four for six and had a stolen base.

“She has everything in her game,” Aliso Niguel Coach Joe Miller said. “She’s going to make UCLA really happy.”

The showcase ended Watley’s high school career. Her team, Woodbridge, was upset in the playoffs by a 7-2 margin to Moreno Valley. Winning pitcher Marissa Young of Mater Dei, who played with Watley on several travel teams, said she thought Wednesday’s performance might take the sting out that previous loss.

“It will give her a better outlook instead of going out on a sour note,” said Young, who pitched the first two innings, struck out three, and drove in Watley with a first-inning single.

It was a fitting end to the high school career of Watley, a two-time first-team selection on The Times All-Orange County team who batted .471 this season and scored 37 runs. She was the South’s player of the game, while Kennedy’s Crystal Eubanks was the North selection.

The South also got RBIs from Lacy Hauxhurst (Westminster) and Liz Lefler (Dana Hills) in the fourth inning, and Sasha Budde (San Clemente) in the ninth inning.

El Toro’s Susan Churchwell, Dana Hills’ Loren Thornburg, Woodbridge’s Tracy Alcaraz, Laguna Hills’ Melissa Creeger and Aliso Niguel’s Danielle Heath limited the North to four hits.