Pitching rich

Steve Virgen

In a tournament championship game that could have gone either way,

the Corona del Mar High softball team made sure to point the

advantage in the Sea Kings’ direction Saturday.

Corona del Mar, led by freshman Michelle Tolfa’s shutout pitching

performance and clutch hits, as well as freshmen Holly Van Hiel and

Allie Duernberger, defeated Santa Margarita, 2-0, to win the Garden

Grove tournament amid a hot day at Mark Twain School in Garden Grove.

Tolfa, who was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player,

delivered a two-hit shutout with seven strikeouts and two walks. She

also contributed on offense, helping provide CdM’s first run.

Nichole Thompson, the Sea Kings’ first-year coach, said it was

Corona del Mar’s biggest victory of the season, because her players

made the clutch plays and the win came against a CIF Southern Section

Division I opponent (7-14), which plays in the Serra League.

“We kept our intensity the whole game,” said Thompson, whose team

improved to 12-7. “I’ve heard this might be the first [softball]

tournament the team has won at the school. This gives them a boost of

confidence.”

Corona del Mar, which lost the game-opening coin flip and was the

visitor, scored its two runs in the sixth inning. Van Hiel, the Sea

Kings’ leadoff hitter, opened the frame with a single to left field.

Then Duernberger came up with an incredible at-bat. She battled back

from an 0-2 count, fouled five pitches, took three balls and sent the

11th pitch to right for a base hit.

Tolfa followed with a base hit, taking an 0-1 pitch to the gap in

left-center field. The Eagles’ center fielder then committed a

throwing error, and Van Hiel displayed smart baserunning by scoring

on the Santa Margarita mistake.

Sarah Stern, the CdM senior catcher, reached on an error to load

the bases. Freshman Ann Klunder, who also competes for the Sea Kings

girls track and field team (shot put), reached on a fielder’s choice

and her ground ball gave her an RBI, as Duernberger came across to

give Corona the 2-0 advantage.

The Sea Kings also came up with some heroics defensively in the

bottom of the sixth. With runners on second and third and two outs,

Thompson called timeout before the Eagles’ Annie Condas came up to

bat. Tolfa then pitched two straight strikes and induced a pop fly

that Duernberger gloved to end the inning.

Tolfa retired the side in order to end the game in the seventh.

The Sea Kings, who committed no errors Saturday, scored four runs

with two outs in the second inning on their way to a 7-1 semifinal

win over Magnolia (2-10) earlier in the day. Magnolia’s run, the only

one allowed by the Sea Kings in the tourney, came unearned. Van Hiel,

who recorded two no-hitters last week, tossed a two-hitter. She

recorded 13 strikeouts and allowed just two walks.

*--*

Garden Grove tournament

Championship

Corona del Mar 2, Santa Margarita 0

Score by Innings

CdM 000 002 0 -- 2 4 0

S. Marg 000 000 0 -- 0 2 2

Tolfa and Stern; Dopudja and Causgrove. W

-- Tolfa, 6-5. L -- Dopudja. 2B -- Smith

(SM).

*--*

*--*

Semifinal

Corona del Mar 7, Magnolia 1

Score by Innings

Magnolia 010 000 0 -- 1 2 5

CdM 041 020 x -- 7 7 0

Flores and Lopez; Van Hiel and Stern. W --

Van Hiel, 6-2. L -- Flores, 2-4. 2B --

Stern (CdM).

*--*