Softball: Mustangs bounces the Sea Kings

Joseph Boo

CORONA DEL MAR - Hits? Who needs hits?

Costa Mesa High’s softball team crushed all of two singles Tuesday

against host Corona del Mar in a Pacific Coast League game. But the

Mustangs received an excellent value from both in a 4-1 victory over the

Sea Kings.

Mesa (8-9, 4-1 in league) actually had one more hit than the Sea Kings.

Mustang pitcher Brooke Shanley didn’t give up a hit until the sixth

inning, when Amy Tyson led off with a single.

“We got really lucky,” Costa Mesa Coach Sharon Uhl said. “That win was

total defense.”

It seemed like the ball and Mesa’s defense were long-lost lovers aching

to reunite. The Sea Kings (5-8, 2-3) only struck out twice, but every

ball CdM hit found its way into a Mesa glove.

“It wasn’t that (Shanley) had excellent stuff,” CdM Coach Terry

Christiano said. “It’s that we hit every ball to their fielders, and they

made the plays. She forced every one of our players to hit ground balls

and pop-ups, and that’s what a good pitcher is suppose to do.”

While Shanley and Mesa’s defense was stringent, CdM committed three

errors in the first three innings and gave up four runs. In the first

inning, the Mustangs’ first run came in when Laura Ramos singled in Cara

Molter. Shanley, who was on first after a single, immediately followed

Molter home when the ball was bobbled.

In the third inning, Ramos reached first after striking out on a pitch

that reached the backstop. She then scored on three wild pitches.

Fernanda Velasco had Mesa’s second run in the third when she scored off

an errant throw to first on what should have been a routine groundout.

Shanley started the game on the mound with a walk to Tyson. But Mesa got

bailed out with a double play. CdM got three more walks from Casey

Bunney, Laura Loe and Jessica Lindseth, but CdM could not get the ball

through the Mustangs’ defense. Shanley made five assists and Mesa first

baseman Kaite Chapman had several excellent defensive plays.

Shanley’s no-hitter was almost broken up by CdM’s Megan Curry in the

fifth. She hit a sharp grounder through the infield, but Mesa right

fielder Kari Snyder fielded the ball and barely threw Curry out at first

to end the inning.

“(Shanley) had great defense behind her,” Uhl said. “That was the best

defense we played all year.”

Tyson led off the sixth with a single to break up Shanley’s no-hitter.

Tyson also reached second on a passed ball. She got to third on a

fielder’s choice, and came home on Pham’s groundout to second.

With the win, Mesa keeps CdM from moving into a second-place tie in

league and dropped the Sea Kings to fourth. The Mustangs face Northwood,

undefeated in the PCL, next Thursday in a likely battle with championship

implications.PACIFIC COAST LEAGUE

Costa Mesa 4, Corona del Mar 1

Costa Mesa 202 000 0 - 4 2 2

Corona del Mar 000 001 0 - 1 1 3

Shanley and Klimkiewicz; Pham, Zoelle (4) and Tyson. W - Shanley, 6-5. L

- Pham, 1-5.