Softball: Mesa goes deep twice in 12-1 win

Richard Dunn

COSTA MESA - In perfect unison, members of the Costa Mesa High

softball team jump in the air and holler the number of outs in each

inning with their finger(s) of their non-glove hand pointed toward the

sky.

“They’re really, really a team,” Mesa Coach Rich Buonarigo said of his

squad, following a 12-1 Pacific Coast League five-inning mercy-rule

victory Tuesday over crosstown rival Estancia.

For the second time in two years, the Mustangs (12-7, 2-1 in the PCL)

hit two home runs on the Eagles’ diamond, this time with Jane-E Yamamoto

going deep in the first inning with two aboard and leadoff hitter Ann

Marie Topps crushing a three-run home run in the second.

Buonarigo said his team has had three tough losses this year,

including last week against PCL foe Northwood, but added that each time

his spirited unit has rallied to win the next game.

Topps singled to start the game, stole second and third and scored on

Lauren DeMello’s RBI bunt back to Estancia pitcher Hilary Ockey, whose

only play was to first.

Kelly Topps, Mesa’s No. 3 hitter, singled to extend the first inning,

followed by a Katy Renish single and Yamamoto’s deep fly over right

fielder Marlene Marquez’s head, which cleared the bases. There was no

fence, so the ball rolled after getting past Marquez.

In the second, Alejandra Gallardo singled to center and Jade Moss

bunted for a single, setting the stage for Ann Marie Topps, who connected

to deep left-center field for Mesa’s first two-home run game of the

campaign.

“It was gone,” Buonarigo said of Topps’ second dinger of the season.

“But the wind is so strong here. It’s really hard to try to jack

something to left field.”

Topps’ shot had no trouble clearing the outfielders, then DeMello

continued the early rally with a double, followed by a Kelly Topps single

to right and eventual stolen base to put two runners in scoring position.

But Estancia freshman right-hander Ockey pitched out of the jam,

retiring Mesa’s 4-5-6 hitters, including striking out Yamamoto looking

for the second out.

The Mustangs, however, scored three more times in the third to break

it wide open, a rally ignited by Michelle Miller’s double. Miller scored

on another single by Moss and error in the Estancia outfield, then Moss

came home on DeMello’s second double of the game. DeMello scored on the

play after a two-base error in the outfield.

“Every coach I talk to tells me, ‘You’re getting there,’ but our

fundamentals just aren’t there yet,” said first-year Estancia Coach Marc

Rodig, whose team fell to 2-10, 0-3.

Mesa, which travels to Corona del Mar Thursday, was led by DeMello’s

three hits, while six other Mustangs collected two hits in Mesa’s 16-hit

attack.

Mesa senior left-hander Tess Lindsay tossed a four-hitter over 6 2/3

innings to earn the win, while freshman southpaw Jackie Butler made a bid

to become next year’s ace in the circle by getting the final out.

“(Butler) didn’t get nervous,” Buonarigo said. “I thought she would,

because she only started pitching in October of 2001. But she handled

herself well.”

PACIFIC COAST LEAGUE

Costa Mesa 12, Estancia 1

Score by Innings

Costa Mesa 433 20 - 12 16 1

Estancia 010 00 - 1 4 3

Lindsay, Butler (7) and DeMello; Ockey and Acosta. W - Lindsay, 12-7.

L - Ockey. 2B - Miller (CM), DeMello (CM) 2. 3B - Yamamoto (CM). HR - A.

Topps (CM), Yamamoto (CM).