IRVINE, CA – Murrieta Mesa-Murrieta sophomore Zoey Clark launched a two run walk-off home run to straightaway centerfield in the bottom of the eighth inning and the Rams won their first CIF Southern Section title with a 3-1 victory over Hart-Newhall in the Division 3 title game at Bill Barber Park.
The fact Mesa (24-10) won a section title isn’t really improbable and its certainly not a fluke. However, they only went 5-5 in the always tough Southwestern League and although they lost twice in league play to both CIF-SS D1 representatives and perennial powerhouses Vista Murrieta-Murrieta and Great Oak-Temecula, they did get a win over Vista Murrieta at the Michelle Carew Classic and lost 1-0 to Norco at the Carew and 6-5 to Grand Terrace.
What’s amazing is how far Mesa has come since the school opened and the Rams first varsity season in 2011. In fact, the Rams lost their first 52 games in Southwestern League play before recoding their first league victory in 2015.
Things were changing but when Idaho State-committed junior pitcher Autumn Pease transferred from cross-town Murrieta Valley last season the journey to a section title began in earnest.
Against Hart Pease scattered six hits with two walks, a hit batter and eight strikeouts, and never was in any serious danger, although she and her Rams teammates had a hard time scoring themselves despite getting the leadoff batter on base in seven of the eight innings.
That all changed when freshman Lauren Randle walked to lead off the eighth and Elena Duran was inserted as a pinch runner. It seemed like a bunting situation but sixth-year Coach Antonio Romero eschewed the sacrifice and had Clark swinging away.
“They won’t bunt because Clark is their best power hitter,” said Eric-Paul Johnson of The Press-Enterprise, who covers the team.
The Inland Empire scribe spoke hardly had the words out of his mouth when Clark uncorked on the first pitch she saw. It was the second time Johnson called one.
When freshman leadoff hitter and LSU-committed Presleigh Pilon stepped to the plate in the bottom of the fifth Johnson correctly predicted the left-handed batter would put one in the left-centerfield gap which she did for a double that drove in Karina Romero for the Rams first run. Pilon finished 2-for-3 with a walk.
Hart (20-13) got its run in the top of the sixth when freshman Aly Kaneshiro had an RBI single that drove in Kylie Norwood.
“When she hit it I couldn’t look but when I heard the screams I looked up and it was gone,” said Pease about Clark’s home run.
“That hit was for my girls. It was all for them. They had my back,” Clark said. “We’re not playing for ourselves but for each other.”
“There is no one I would want more at the plate with the game on the line than Zoey Clark,” Romero said.
Still, the big story of the Mesa title is how far they’ve come since winning their first Southwestern game in their third league game of the 2015 season.
“I told the girls this is not a fluke. There are new expectations here,” Romero remarked.
There certainly will be some expectations next season when Pease and all the other starters return.
