Second fiddle OK

Steve Virgen

Though the Costa Mesa High softball team lost its first game of the

season, the Mustangs were still able to make history.

The Mustangs made their first championship game appearance in the

10 years in the Costa Mesa tournament. Costa Mesa lost, 8-2, to

defending tournament champion Savanna in the final Saturday at

TeWinkle Park. But the Mustangs (3-1) took pride in their title-game

appearance and in their 6-0 victory over Newport-Mesa District rival

and former Pacific Coast League foe Corona del Mar (3-2) in the

semifinals.

The Costa Mesa seniors, in particular Jane-E Yamamoto, Uyen Mai

and Michelle Miller, especially enjoyed the win over the Sea Kings.

They had been waiting more than a year to exact revenge on Corona del

Mar.

Last year, Costa Mesa switched over to the Golden West League and

won its first league title.

In April 2002, Costa Mesa shut out the Sea Kings, 7-0, in a PCL

game, but Corona del Mar came back three weeks later with a

resounding 12-3 win over the Mustangs.

“That loss has stuck with me,” said Yamamoto, who scored a run and

contributed to the shutout at second base. “[The win over the Sea

Kings] was pretty special. It felt great. I was so nervous and scared

before the game. But we just came out and played our hardest. [Jackie

Butler’s] pitching was great.”

Butler, a junior left-hander, pitched a two-hitter that came with

three strikeouts and no walks.

“Jackie was on fire,” Costa Mesa Coach Sharon Uhl said. “She had a

perfect game going through three innings.”

Sea King junior Heather Lohrman broke up Butler’s no-hit bid,

leading off the bottom of the fourth with an infield single. Lohrman

had another infield base hit in the sixth and final inning. The

tournament games had an 80-minute time limit.

Costa Mesa, the designated visiting team, was led by freshman

Danielle Morton, who went 3 for 3, as well as Miller, the catcher who

had one hit, one run and an RBI. Freshman Christy Gregory scored in

the first inning, reaching on a walk and later coming home on an RBI

single by junior Paulina Rodriguez.

Corona del Mar finished fourth in the tournament, losing, 2-1, to

Saddleback Valley Christian, which scored the go-ahead run in the

bottom of the final inning.

In the title game, Savanna, which returns seven starters from last

year’s team that went 20-5, broke away from a 2-2 tie after 2 1/2

innings and scored three runs in each of the bottom of the third and

sixth innings.

The Mustangs played without one of their top players, junior

shortstop Kelly Topps, a first-team All-Golden West League returner

who was out with a sprained wrist suffered in Costa Mesa’s first game

last week. Uhl said Topps might play Thursday at 3:15 p.m., when the

Mustangs host Corona del Mar.

Topps was not at the games Saturday. She was in Las Vegas watching

her older sister, former Mesa star Ann Marie, play in the UNLV

tournament for Oregon, which is 21-6 on the season. Ann Marie, who

plays in right field, smacked her fourth home run of the season in a

9-1 win over Long Island University.

*--*

Costa Mesa tournament Final

Savanna 8, Costa Mesa 2

Score by Innings

Mesa 101 000 0 -- 2 5 4

Savanna 023 003 x -- 8 10 2

Butler and Miller; Rivera and Garcia. W --

Rivera, 4-2. L -- Butler, 3-1. 3B --

Bradley.

*--*

*--*

Semifinal

Costa Mesa 6, Corona del Mar 0

Score by Innings

Mesa 102 003 -- 6 7 0

CdM 000 000 -- 0 2 2

Butler and Miller; Van Heil, Tolfa (3) and

Stern. W -- Butler, 3-0. L -- Van Heil, 1-1.

*--*