Eagles find hope in extra-innings loss

COSTA MESA ? The ending was ugly, not indicative of the eight innings that came before. For Estancia High, there was something attractive in the game as a whole, regardless of the end result.

Last year, the game would still have been a loss, but not in the same manner. The score would have been put out of reach long before the ninth inning. Surrender would have taken the place of Wednesday’s comebacks.

The Eagles took some solace in a nine-inning 12-8 home loss to Ocean View, their Golden West League rivals. Things are different this year.

“This is the most fun year I’ve had,” senior center fielder Allison Wyman said after her final home game. “In previous years, we’d get to that point and give up. We would have quit.”

Case in point. As the ball bounced past Ocean View pitcher Daae Cantu, Wyman sped up and with her last step stomped on first for an infield single to lead off the seventh. The Eagles were down, 8-7, and Cantu had shut them out the previous two innings.

The Eagles wouldn’t need another hit to score. Taylor West followed with a walk. Ocean View tried to turn a double play on Keille Brown’s ground ball, but Brown beat the throw. Wyman never stopped, rounding third and heading home to tie the game.

“I’m going all out,” said Wyman, who also drove in three runs. “[The first baseman] wasn’t paying attention. We played and we battled. It was tough that last inning. It was really tough all through the game.”

The Eagles would not score again, but junior pitcher Josie Flores kept the game in reach, shutting Ocean View out from the sixth through eighth innings. With Wednesday’s nine-inning performance, Flores has pitched 30 innings in five days, the most she has pitched in her high school career.

“I just try to think positive,” said Flores who was ready to ice her arm. “They were good hitters. It was a good battle.”

Estancia Coach Alan Caouette praised Flores, the only true pitcher the team has, for her tireless pitching.

“Josie just doesn’t want to let her teammates down,” Caouette said.

The defense stood firm for Flores. In the third, with Estancia up, 5-4, sophomore third baseman Haylee Whitney made the final two outs of the inning, including snagging a hard shot down the line before throwing to first.

In the sixth, with the Eagles trailing, 8-7, West made all three outs of the inning, the last one a sliding catch on the foul line.

“I knew she’d catch it,” Flores said of the sophomore.

It has been a year of good battles for the Eagles, with five games decided by one run.

“They didn’t lose the game, they got beat,” Caouette said. “Before, they’d lose game by 10 runs. Not any more.”

Freshman Courtney Ulrich was two for five with three runs and Taylor Brown had two hits and two runs scored.

Estancia trailed in the game three times and came back to tie the score or take the lead, starting with a three-run first inning to answer Ocean View’s one run in the top half of the inning.

Down a run in the second, Flores and Ulrich started the inning with back-to-back singles. A single from Wyman and a fielder’s choice grounder by West helped give the Eagles a 5-4 lead.

With one out in the fourth, and the score tie at five, Ulrich and Brown each smacked singles, with Brown advancing to second on a throw to third. Both scored when Ocean View right fielder Brooke Hitchcock slipped while catching a fly ball.

Ocean View loaded the bases with no outs in the fifth inning. After allowing a single, Flores retired three of the next four batters, the last one on a strikeout with two on to keep her team within a run.