IRVINE, CA – The CIF Southern Section Division 1 title game on Saturday evening had plots and subplots, but the biggest prize of all was the fact the top spot in the nation in every major softball rankings was at stake.
After playing a non-league schedule of tournaments packed with nationally-ranked teams, then going 10-0 in the mega-tough Sunset League, and finally the new competitive equity based CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoffs, Los Alamitos was not to be denied.
With a hard-fought 3-1 victory over Norco in the CIF-SS D1 title game Los Alamitos finished 28-3 and avenged all its losses, including a 1-0 setback to Norco in April at the Michelle Carew Classic.
For Los Alamitos it was the culmination of an amazing season in which they were in the shadow of Norco right up until the victory on Saturday evening in front of a packed house at Bill Barber Park.
For Norco (33-1) it was the end of a magical season that had the Cougars been able to complete unscathed may well have gone down as one of the greatest seasons in California and possibly the nation’s history.
“With them in the spotlight we felt like we had nothing to lose,” said Los Alamitos senior pitcher Ryan Denhard.
It was the Maryland-bound Denhard that won the pitching battle with Norco ace and Cal-State-Fullerton-bound Taylor Dockins. She had a no-hitter through four innings and ended up giving up the one run and three hits with six strikeouts and no walks.
Los Alamitos came into the game behind No. 1 Norco and ranked No. 2 in the FloSoftball FAB 50, the Maxpreps Xcellent 25 and in the Cal-Hi Sports state rankings but that will all now be reversed.
Cal-Hi Sports editor Mark Tennis, who also does the FloSoftball rankings, and was at the game, confirmed that Los Alamitos obviously would now be in the catbird seat of his rankings. It would be hard to believe that the Maxpreps Xcellent 25 and computer rankings would not follow suit.
The CIF-SS title was the sixth for Griffins Coach Rob Weil but his first in nine-years at the helm of Los Alamitos after winning five at Pacifica-Garden Grove.
Weil had gotten the Griffins close, including last year, but they had not been able to seal the deal.
“We had a little sour taste in our mouths after last year when we lost to OLu (Orange Lutheran) in the semifinals and we were 21 outs away from this game,” Weil remarked. “It was kind of our motto to get into this game and once you’re in, anything can happen.”
And happen it did. In the bottom of the third inning Arizona-bound senior Jenna Kean started it off with an infield hit that was followed by a line drive from leadoff hitter and Ohio University-committed Allison Englant that glanced off the glove of Dockins for a second straight base hit.
With runners at second and third later in the inning after a double steal and one out, Oregon-committed senior Mary Iakopo stepped up and smoked an off-field shot at first base that barely ticked the glove of the first baseman and rolled down the right field line. Both Kean and Englant scored and while the official scoring showed an error none of the assembled scribes on press row thought it was an error and credited Iakopo with a two-run single.
The Griffins got their third run in the bottom of the fourth when Army-bound Cami Sellers got a one-out double. On the next at-bat, Oklahoma-bound Sarah Ladd hit a grounder in which it appeared Norco had thrown out pinch-runner Myah Iakopo at third but the call was reversed in one of two reversals plus questions on ball/strike counts all of which went the way of the Griffins. With a first-and-third situation with one out, Regis University-committed Allisha Martinez hit another grounder in which the only play was at second base, allowing Iakopo to score.
Norco finally came alive in the top of the seventh in a last ditch effort to save their unblemished season and title hopes.
Needing three runs to tie it up Tennessee-verballed junior Mikayla Allee got the Cougar faithful roaring with a soaring solo home run. After Denhart struck out Kinzie Hansen, Dockins then came through with a single. Sophomore Paige Smith then struck out leaving it up to Sierra Marshall. The Loyola-Marymount-committed junior drove one toward the left-center gap but Los Al’s Kean made a diving catch for the final out of the game.
Had Kean not made the catch Dockins would have scored and the tying run would have been on second base.
“We had a nice little game plan for Ryan and she did handcuff them by hitting her spots and location real well – and the defense came up with a couple of big plays like the last one. It was huge,” Weil said.
“I had to relax so everyone else could relax,” Denhart said. “My teammates getting a couple of runs early took the pressure off me.”
Norco Coach Rick Robinson would not blame the umpires and although he wasn’t too happy about all the calls going to Los Alamitos he still credited the Griffins.
“We needed to be a little more aggressive at the plate but they did a great job of setting up our hitters,” said Robinson, who had a No. 1 team in the nation in 2012 at Norco. “There are times you’re going to drop a game it’s just unfortunate it was this one.”
For even the Las Al faithful it was hard for anyone to not have a soft spot in their hearts for Dockins after her surgery and recovery from a rare form of liver cancer she was diagnosed with last July.
“I’m just blessed to be out there with my teammates,” said Dockins. “I won it (CIF-SS D1 title) as a sophomore and now I know what it feels like to win and lose. It didn’t turn out the way we wanted and it’s tough, but it was tougher in the hospital.”
The way Tennis sees it avenging the losses to La Habra, Mission Viejo and then Norco at No. 1 in the nation, Los Alamitos resume would trump any other rankings that might use a computer in the mix.
“This is just the greatest feeling, Denhart said. “Since the beginning of school we’ve been working for this.”
