Edison’s big charge shocks Marina

HUNTINGTON BEACH — The ball came off senior Jessica Reichner’s bat, a hard-hit, no-doubt double to right.

With that hit and several other large ones Thursday, the Edison High softball team showed the rest of the Sunset League that there’s also no doubt the Chargers will again be in contention for the title.

Reichner’s double scored pinch-runner Casey Africano and lifted the Chargers to a wild, 5-4 comeback win over rival Marina on Thursday at Edison.

The teams shared the league title a year ago, Edison’s first since 1983. And, while it’s still early, Thursday’s dramatic win was the closest thing to a must-win this early in league for the Chargers. They didn’t want to go to 0-2 after a tough loss at Los Alamitos on Tuesday.

“Our girls found their heart,” Coach Kendra Rosales said. “They found their intensity, they found their will to win. They know they’re a good team. If we play [every inning] like we play that seventh inning, there’s not a team out there that can beat us. It’s up to them, though, to find it, and today they found it. I definitely think some of our juniors and seniors, they said, ‘No, this is our junior and senior year. We want to be Sunset League champions.’ ”

Edison (15-5, 1-1) was held scoreless for most of the game by Oregon-bound Marina junior Jamie Sullivan, and was still down, 4-2, headed into the bottom of the seventh. But after three straight singles by Madison Hickman, Karley Wester and Courtney Gonzales, the bases were loaded with nobody out.

Gonzales, a senior, nearly ended it during her at-bat, with a blast to left field just going about 10 feet foul of a walk-off homer.

With the bases juiced, Sullivan induced a popout to first. But the next batter, sophomore Mercedes O’Connor, stroked a two-RBI single to left to knot the score at 4-4.

“It was a real accomplishment for me,” said O’Connor, who finished two for four. “I was struggling at the beginning [of the game], but once I finally made an adjustment, it felt really good to finally hit the ball and score runs for our team.”

Then came Reichner, who ran it to a full count before delivering the game-winner.

“No one wants to go down 0-2 [in league],” Reichner said. “I think everyone just decided it’s all or nothing, put your heart on the field. We just had to prove how good Edison softball was.”

Edison had scored a pair of runs in the sixth on senior Bridget Barrett’s sacrifice fly and junior Katie Shinrock’s RBI single to center.

Marina (13-7, 1-1) scored twice in the third inning, and single runs in the fourth and fifth. Junior third baseman Chloe Kaneko had the big hit in the third, a single to center that netted two RBIs.

Freshman Sydnee Cable was two for three with a double for the Vikings, while senior Ari Tedesco had a triple and sophomore Sandy Simmons a double.

“It was our game to win; we had it,” Marina Coach Shelly Luth said. “We let them back in, and you can’t let a good team back in. When you have a good team up against the ropes, you have to leave it there, and we didn’t.”

But the Chargers, who have a ton of talent but are still fairly young, think this game was maybe more than just a single win.

“This win sets the tone for the rest of the season,” Rosales said. “These girls, I think they finally believe they’re that good.”

Edison senior Ally Hecht (7-3) got the win in relief of freshman Samantha Cordova. Hecht pitched three innings, allowing just a single run on two hits.