Long road leads Providence softball to playoff win

It was a long but happy ride home Thursday evening for the players and coaches of the Providence High softball team.

The Pioneers made a 245-mile trip that took nearly four hours to play host Pig Pine in a CIF Southern Section Division VII first-round game. Although some of the Pioneers might have snoozed on the trip, the team’s bats were anything by dormant once the game started.

Providence scored four runs in the first inning and cruised the rest of the way to earn a 15-0 victory against the Warriors.

The game was called after five innings because of the 10-run mercy rule.

“I told the girls I don’t want to drive four hours and lose, so let’s go, and they did,” Providence Coach Joel Curtis said. “They played very well and the girls were ready to go from the beginning of the game. We started hitting the ball and we never stopped.

“They started their No. 2 pitcher and when she started to struggled they brought in their No. 1 and we hit her as well.”

The win puts the Pioneers into a second-round home game at 3:15 p.m. Tuesday. They will take on No. 1 Rolling Hills Prep (17-3), which defeated Malibu, 10-0, in a first-round game Thursday.

The Pioneers (8-5), who placed second in the Liberty League, defeated a Big Pine (13-8) team that won a championship in the Hi-Lo League.

Emily Mai and Sarah Cox were both two for three, Celeste Lee was three for four and Fabi Jimenez had a triple for Providence.

In the circle, starting pitcher Cielo Monzon hurled a two-hitter, striking out five in five innings.

Providence had a 4-0 lead in the first inning and tacked on four more in the second, two in the third, four in the fourth and one in the fifth.

“Up and down the lineup we just played very well and that was nice to see,” Curtis said. “This was just a good, solid team effort.”

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Jeff Tully, jeff.tully@latimes.com

Twitter: @jefftsports