SOUTHERN SECTION SOFTBALL : Roundup : Miraleste Wins, 3-2, Captures First 1-A Title

Senior Rysa Ferdon’s ground-rule double scored pitcher Jennifer Chew in the bottom of the seventh inning to give Miraleste High School a 3-2 victory over Paraclete in the Southern Section 1-A softball title game Saturday night at Mayfair Park in Lakewood.

Ferdon’s game-winning hit gave the Pioneer League champion Marauders their first Section title.

“I wanted to win this since I was 6 years old,” Ferdon said. “I hadn’t hit a ball hard all day so I just went back to my normal swing and it worked.”

Desert-Inyo champion Paraclete led 2-1 going into the fourth when Miraleste tied the score on a fielder’s choice. With the bases loaded, Andra Stockert scored the tying run to set up Ferdon’s seventh-inning heroics.

Chew (25-1), a senior, allowed two hits and had 12 strikeouts. “Our goal at the start of the year was to win the CIF,” Miraleste Coach John Matull said. “With our kids hitting the ball hard all game long I knew we would come back.”

Miraleste finishes the season 25-1-1. Tami Logan (17-3) took the loss for Paraclete, 22-3.

In the Small School final:

Linfield Christian 5, Avalon 1--The Lions captured their second consecutive championship at Mayfair Park in Lakewood.

Cynthia Hawkins (21-3) limited the Lancers to two hits and one run.

“I was nervous at the begining and I was fighting my control,” Hawkins said. “But I settled down as the game went along.”

Christian League champion Linfield Christian, which had 11 of 15 players from last season’s championship team, scored four in the fifth inning to break a 1-1 tie.

The key hit was a bases-loaded single by Hawkins to scored two.

“We just came in more relaxed today and we really wanted to win it a second time,” Linfield Coach Sharon Lehman said.

Academy League champion Avalon finished 18-4. Linfield Christian finished 21-4.