Community College Softball : Santa Ana and Silva Win Three Games and a Championship

Alani Silva of Santa Ana College picked a most dramatic time Sunday afternoon to hit the first softball out of Golden West College’s park since 1979.

The home run broke a scoreless tie in the sixth inning and led the Dons to a 2-0 win over rival Fullerton in the deciding game of the state championship tournament at Huntington Beach.

Earlier in the day, Santa Ana had routed Sacramento City, 10-0, in the loser’s bracket title game and then handed Fullerton its first loss of the double-elimination tournament, 3-0, forcing another game against the Hornets.

Neither team had scored going into the top of the sixth inning when Silva, a left-handed batter, stepped to the plate to face Lisa Fresquez with one out. The sophomore from Hawaii drove a pitch down the right-field line and it just cleared the fence, 225 feet away.

“I was surprised it went out,” Silva said. “After I hit it, I kept running hard and I didn’t let up until I got to second base and saw the umpire twirling his finger.”

Silva was named the tournament’s Most Valuable Player, but it wasn’t just for her home run. The right-hander was the winning pitcher in all three Santa Ana victories Saturday, improving her record to 25-2, and she also had the key hit in the Dons’ first win over Fullerton, a two-run double up the alley in right-center field.

Silva and her teammates engaged in a raucous celebration after Fullerton’s Carla Williams popped up for the last out, but no one appreciated the win more than Don Coach Jim Reach, who stepped down as Santa Ana’s baseball coach four years ago to take over the softball team.

“What a great day and great moment this is in the life of Santa Ana College, and what a great day and great moment this is in my life,” he said. “There is no greater feeling in the world than what I feel now.

“I knew it would be tough winning out of the losers’ bracket, but I knew we had a chance because this is such a great team. You’ll never see a more physically talented team that his one.”

Santa Ana (42-3) showed how determined it was to win its first state title by the way it beat Sacramento City, which had defeated the Dons in the first day of the tournament on Saturday, 1-0, despite the fact Silva no-hit the Panthers.

The rematch was no contest. Santa Ana scored twice in the first inning, once in the second and blew the game open with seven runs in the third. The big hit in the third was a two-run double by Sam Arledge.

Silva and Chris Makimoto combined to one-hit Sacramento City.

Next came Santa Ana’s first game against Fullerton, the team that beat the Dons for the South Coast Conference title but lost to Santa Ana last weekend in the Southern California regional tournament.

Fresquez, who was overpowering in her wins over College of San Mateo and Sacramento City Saturday, was overpowering early against the Dons, striking out six in a row at one point.

But in the fourth, the Dons got to Fresquez. Lesa Godfrey led off the rally with a single and advanced to second when Arledge beat out a bunt for a hit. Silva followed with a double to score both Godfrey and Arledge and later scored herself on a throwing error by Fresquez.

Three runs were more than enough for Silva, who had a no-hitter for 5 innings and finished with a two-hit shutout.

By losing, Fullerton (32-11) had lost its momentum and some of its confidence. But Santa Ana, despite having base runners in four of the first five innings, could not score against Fresquez until Silva’s big home run.

The Dons added an insurance run in the top of the seventh when Makimoto singled, was sacrificed to second and third and scored on a wild pitch by Fresquez.

Margo Davis, the Hornet’s coach, made no excuses after the defeat. After seeing Fullerton lose to Santa Ana for the fifth time in six meetings this year and for the eighth time in nine games dating back to last year, she knew the best team had won.

“I said yesterday that if Santa Ana won three games today, they would deserve the championship, they did and they do,” she said. “I’m still proud of our club, because they’re loaded with sophomores and we’re loaded with freshmen.

“Our problem today was that we didn’t hit real well. Fresquez pitched well and really deserved better.”

Fresquez, whose record dropped to 28-7 with the two defeats, was clearly tired Sunday. She was working in her fourth game in two days and after the third inning of the Hornets’ 3-0 loss to Santa Ana, her fastball lost its pop.