A LATE, LATE RALLY WINS IT : St. Joseph Girls Beat Gahr, 1-0, in 29th Inning After 2 Days, 15 Hits, 101 Strikeouts

When the week began at St. Joseph High School in Lakewood, the talk was about Friday night’s senior prom, not the school’s softball team.

But after Thursday’s 21-inning scoreless standoff with visiting Gahr was halted by darkness, the focus had shifted considerably Friday afternoon when the teams resumed play to decide which would advance to meet Downey in the semifinal round of the Southern Section 4-A softball playoffs.

As it turned out, it was a two-out, bases-loaded single by sophomore designated hitter Erin Prangley in the bottom of the 29th inning that lifted St. Joseph to a 1-0 win.

The 29 innings equaled the national record for the longest prep softball game, set in 1976 by La Mesa’s Helix and Chula Vista’s Bonita Vista.

A crowd of about 800 took up what bleachers there were and lined the foul lines of the playing field at the tiny, all-girls parochial school to see the continuation of a pitchers’ duel between freshmen De De Weiman of Gahr and Lisa Fernandez of St. Joseph. The pair, teammates in the off-season on an American Softball Assn. team, combined to strike out 80 batters Thursday. Fernandez, who finished with 48, added 11 Friday, and Weiman had 10 to finish with 53.

“De De pitched exceptionally well--she has nothing to be ashamed of,” said Fernandez, who later walked into a pack of tearful Gahr players and consoled several of them, including Weiman, with hugs.

Fernandez did not allow a runner past first base Friday, while St. Joseph wasted a two-out triple by Lisa Podesta in the bottom of the 25th inning. Gahr had eight hits in the game, and St. Joseph had seven.

Fernandez led off the bottom of the 29th inning and bounced a single over the head of third baseman Mitzy Kenyon. Andrea Lopiccolo struck out before Ana Veloz singled Fernandez to second. Gina Lopiccolo worked Weiman to a full count, then walked to load the bases, but Weiman caught Gina Bailey looking at a third strike.

Prangley, who had struck out in 8 of her first 10 at-bats, lined the first pitch into left field to drive Fernandez home with the winning run.