Softball: Rios shines in Estancia’s playoff win
In the sixth inning with two outs, Estancia High sophomore Felicia Rios jumped into the sky at shortstop to end the frame.
Rios had everyone saying, “Great catch,” after Rios snagged a high line drive. It was a spectacular highlight and only added to a truly standout performance Monday at Estancia.
After her monster day, people might need to start referring to Tyler Rios as Felicia Rios’ brother.
Felicia Rios went three for four with a double and two runs scored to help lead the Eagles to a 3-2 victory over Calabasas Viewpoint in a wild-card game of the CIF Southern Section Division 5 playoffs.
Felicia Rios’ older brother was the 2013 Newport-Mesa Baseball Player of the Year.
“I can’t thank her enough,” Estancia Coach Carrie Lester said of Felicia Rios. “We play as a team, but we need every single person. We sure needed Felicia.”
The Eagles (16-7), who finished third in the Orange Coast League, advance to Tuesday’s first round and will play at Montebello Schurr (18-8), the Almont League champion.
“It’s exciting,” Felicia Rios said of the wild-card win. “We haven’t gotten this far since I’ve been here. It’s fun to win this game and being able to go to see what Montebello is like over there, and hopefully go on to the next round.”
Felicia Rios said she was nervous before the game, but did her best to treat the wild-card round just as any other contest, and “do what you normally do.”
But there was something different about her and the rest of the Estancia girls. They all wore pink glitter. Felicia Rios had it on her eye black.
They said they used the pink glitter for the first time Monday. It seemed to work.
The Eagles did leave 12 baserunners stranded and had to hold on for the win after Viewpoint (10-11) had scored a run in the seventh inning and had runners on second and third with two outs.
But that was when Felicia Rios calmly got under an infield fly ball to end the game. The Eagles celebrated.
Sophomore Maya Van Den Heever contributed a single and a triple, and also made a couple nice catches in center field.
Seniors Bree Vernon and Chloe Davis added one hit each. Senior pitcher Kelly Hinkle, who also had a hit, was strong in the circle, allowing four hits and striking out two.