Softball: Marina’s season has gone Vanilla Ice cold

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Marina’s season continued to plummet like Vanilla Ice’s career as the Vikings’ 4-1 loss to No. 21 Esperanza on Thursday has essentially put the team in no-man’s land.

Coach Shelly Luth admitted after the game that any spot in the Division I playoffs for her Sunset League team, which has won 17 games, will probably depend on whether there are any at-large berths available.

Marina (17-9, 3-5) was 11-2 heading into the Woodbridge tournament and ranked comfortably in the The Times’ top 25. Since then, the rudder has come off the Vikings’ boat.

The latest setback came after Marina got off to a pretty good start: a leadoff home run by Shannon Simmons. Esperanza (18-6-2, 7-1), which came back behind pitcher Chelsey Anderson and a big second inning rally, is now positioned to play for the Sunset League title next week against its two closest competitors, Edison and Los Alamitos. For full details of the game, check the Register story.

-- Martin Henderson