Sunny Hills Loses, 1-0, to Kennedy in 8 Innings

For six innings Wednesday, the Sunny Hills High School softball team played the way a defending Southern Section 3-A champion should. Flawlessly.

But the Lancers ultimately lost to the team that many expect will replace them as champion. Kennedy, the top-seeded Southern Section 3-A team and the top-ranked 3-A team in the state, defeated Sunny Hills, 1-0, in eight innings in a second-round playoff game at Arnold Park in Cypress.

“We gave the No. 1-rated team a better game than they’ll see all playoff,” Sunny Hills Coach Cathy Williams said. “This is the best game we’ve had all season.”

Either team looked capable of winning a division title. Kennedy (22-5) played solid defense behind the pitching of freshman Cheryl Longeway (20-3), who gave up only one hit, a single, in the first inning and struck out 10.

But Sunny Hills was equally tough. Junior pitcher Amy Huett also took a one-hitter into the eighth. Huett got out of a jam in the bottom of the seventh when Kennedy’s Kris Vucurevic, who had walked, advanced to third on two errors and tried to score on a wild pitch. But Huett, covering the plate, made a close play to tag Vucurevic out and send the game into extra innings.

Things started to go wrong for Sunny Hills in the top of the eighth.

With one out, Tammy Hart popped the ball up and was heading for first while Kennedy first baseman Deanna Mayes ran for the ball. The two crashed into each other and Hart was called out for interference. Longeway struck out the final batter of the inning.

Mayes left the game but was not believed to be seriously injured, according to her coach, Sue Hall.

“That (play) kind of took the air out of our sails,” Williams said.

Things only went from bad to worse for the Lancers. With one out in the bottom of the eighth, Longeway singled. Then, with two out, Charlotte Wahlsteen hit the ball down the right-field line. Sunny Hills right fielder Kelly Ward reached for the ball, but it bounded off her, putting runners at first and second.

“It was a foul ball,” Williams said. “Her leg was in foul territory and the ball hit her leg.”

Suzie Berdis, who had singled in the first inning, then hit a ball sharply to center field for what should have been a single. But Sunny Hills center fielder Terri Van Sickle, who had taken away a base hit in the fourth inning with a spectacular leaping catch, fumbled the ball. Longeway, who had started to hold at third, crossed the plate for the winning run.

The loss snapped Sunny Hills’ nine-game winning streak. The Lancers, who lost pitcher Ruby Flores to a knee injury at the start of the season, struggled during nonleague play but came together behind Huett (13-10). The Lancers, the Freeway League champions, finish 15-15.

“They were tougher than I expected,” Hall said. “This game will toughen us up.”

In Friday’s quarterfinals, Kennedy will play Covina, which defeated Mayfair, 1-0.