Southern Section 4-A Softball : Ocean View Defeats Westminster to Win Title

In the course of a softball season, especially a perfect one, the sacrifices asked of players are great.

On Saturday at Mayfair Park, perhaps the ultimate sacrifice was asked of the Seahawks.

They had to miss the prom.

Ocean View made sure this was all not in vain, scoring two runs in the top of the seventh inning to defeat Westminster, 2-0, to win 4-A Southern Section championship.

The win completes a 32-0 season for the Seahawks, who didn’t even qualify for the playoffs last season.

The game, played in front of a capacity crowd of 2,300, was dominated by pitchers Jackie Oakley (31-0) of Ocean View and Debbie DeJohn (22-10) of Westminster. Each allowed just one hit through six innings.

However, Seahawk center fielder Jana Darling led off the seventh with an infield hit. The ball was fielded by Lion second baseman Lee Bladow, but her throw sailed over the head of first baseman Barbara Graff. Darling took second on the error.

Westminster Coach Dick Martin chose to intentionally walk both Oakley and catcher Julie Scruggs, to load the bases and play for the force at the plate.

It appeared that Westminster might not need the force since DeJohn seemed to get even stronger. She struck out shortstop Gretchen Bock and had a two-strike count on left fielder Heather Smittle. But Smittle managed to poke the ball to third baseman Heather Illsley who threw late to the plate.

“I knew if we hit the ball on the ground, Jana would score,” Ocean View Coach Sarah Oakley said. “She’s the fastest girl in our league (the Sunset) and one of the fastest around. If you get her on base, you’re going to win ball games.”

Darling had beaten the play easily, but executed a bumpy head-first slide just in case. Ah, more sacrifices.

“I hurt all over,” Darling said. “I was so keyed up I was ready to score on anything. I was hoping for a passed ball. When I slid in there, I kind of got bumped by the catcher. I knew I scored but I really didn’t know where I was for a second.

Ocean View scored its second run when Oakley came home on Nancy Moreluck’s ground ball to shortstop.

Oakley, a junior, had four strikeouts. DeJohn struck out seven.

For Oakley, the championship was almost more of relief than a joy.

“I got tired of hearing all the other team’s fans yelling at them to beat me,” Oakley said. “People really wanted to beat me and spoil my perfect record.”

Even though she got the win, it wasn’t the most characteristic of Oakley’s games. Her four strikeouts was well below her average. The Lions actually seemed to be hitting Oakley pretty well, getting seven fly balls to the outfield. All were for outs, but when you’re batting against someone who is 31-0, you take what you can get.

“I really wasn’t worried about the fly balls,” said Oakley, who complained of pain in her pitching hand during the Seahawks’ 14-inning, victory over Cypress in the semifinals. “They could hit as many fly balls as they want. As long as they weren’t for singles I didn’t care.”