SOUTHERN COLLEGE SOFTBALL CHAMPIONSHIPS : 2-A : Time Runs Out After 14 Innings; Woodbridge, Laguna Hills Tie, 0-0

Somehow it just had to be this way.

They were as different as two teams could be. Woodbridge’s heart and soul depended on the pitching arm and bat of Tiffany Boyd, a headliner who happens to play with a generic supporting cast. Laguna Hills was a team with budding talent but no stars. The two teams wound up sharing the Pacific Coast League softball championship.

When they both made it to the Southern Section 2-A championship, Boyd talked about how Woodbridge would win it all, how this just had to be her year. The players at Laguna Hills didn’t have much to say. This showdown was supposed to prove everything.

But after 14 innings, because of a CIF rule that allows no inning to begin after three hours, the game ended, 0-0. Woodbridge and Laguna Hills were co-champions.

At times both teams seemed on the verge of winning the game, and the ways they went about it were as different as they are. That was especially evident in the game’s biggest play.

In the bottom of the seventh and the game on the line, Boyd hit the ball high into center field, and it seemed it would easily clear the fence and score Boyd, Susan Spring and pinch-runner Jaymee Stone, who were already on base. The hit would have been her third in as many at-bats.

However, Laguna Hills center fielder Leah Miller made a running catch to steal the home run, colliding with left fielder Erika Schlitz. Still, Miller managed to throw to shortstop Kris Santagata, who made a perfect throw to catcher Shelley Carey, allowing her to tag out Stone, completing an incredible double play.

“I hit it but I didn’t get all of it,” Boyd said. “I hoped it would carry but I knew it wouldn’t. It was so close, like everything else.”

“They saved the game with that throw from center field,” said Woodbridge Coach Sue Hall, who was letting Boyd “hit away.”

“Defense has been our trademark the last three seasons,” said Cliff Jarmie, the Laguna Hills coach. “As far as I’m concerned there were three or four major league plays out there.” Hall also said she didn’t regret sending Stone home from third.

“If I had stopped her I would have been regretting it now,” Hall said.

Laguna Hills had threatened as well. Five times the Hawks had runners in scoring position. But just as they were on the verge of winning, Boyd shut them down. In the top of the 14th inning, with Erica Ziencina on third, Boyd struck out two to end the inning.

Boyd, who pitched the equivalent of two full games, said she was tired but could’ve continued.

“You ask me if I’m a veteran player?” she said. “After this I think I’ve seen it all.

“But I would’ve rather continued pitching until I couldn’t walk and was 80 years old rather than being co-champions. That’s twice now.”

Boyd (16-6-1) struck out 20 batters and gave up five hits in 14 innings as Woodbridge wound up its season with its only tie game (19-6-1). Laguna Hills and its starter, Dawn Roberts, who threw a four-hitter, both finished 24-6-1.

The finale must have been especially nice for Jarmie, who will become El Toro’s wrestling coach next year. This was his last time out as a softball coach.

“It would’ve been a shame for somebody to walk a loser in a game like this,” he said.