Southern Section 2-A Playoffs : Heydt’s No-Hitter Lifts Mission Viejo

Jenny Heydt pitched her third no-hitter of the season to lead Mission Viejo High School to a 3-0 victory over Palm Springs in a Southern Section 2-A second-round softball game Wednesday at Mission Viejo.

Heydt (11-1), a right-hander who missed most of the South Coast League season because of a stress fracture in her right forearm, threw only 36 pitches, 24 of them for strikes, as she faced only 22 batters, one over the minimum. The only Palm Springs (20-5) baserunner, Morena Villareal, reached second in the first inning when left fielder Hillary Schaefer dropped her fly ball.

“It doesn’t bother me that I didn’t get the perfect game because of the error,” Heydt said. “I knew I pitched a good ballgame, and the rest of my teammates played good defense to take some hits away from them.

“Once I got warmed up, my forearm didn’t bother me at all.”

Heydt has allowed runs in only one of her last eight games and has eight shutouts.

“This was the first game in some time in which she has been able to throw the ball the way she’s capable of doing,” Mission Viejo Coach Jeff Cunningham said. “She kept them off balance throughout the game, and she had good control.”

Randy Svoboda, Palm Springs coach, said: “This was the worst offensive game we’ve had all season, but give their pitcher the credit. She wasn’t overpowering, but she moved the ball around well. We swung at a lot of riseballs we shouldn’t have swung at. She pitched a good ballgame.”

Mission Viejo (20-7), which plays Arroyo in Friday’s quarterfinals, got its first run on Schaefer’s leadoff homer to right in the second.

With one out in the third, Rene Pina singled and advanced to second when Palm Springs shortstop Joelle Calhoun bobbled Amy Bond’s grounder.

After Indian pitcher Denise Kuhns (14-4) wild-pitched the runners to second and third, Leanne Davis singled to left to score Pina, and Bond came home when Palm Springs left fielder Marie Lohman misplayed Davis’ hit.

“The home run was hit really well,” Svoboda said, “but the error that brought the third run really broke whatever momentum we were able to generate.”

The closest Palm Springs came to base hits after the first was in the sixth and seventh. With two outs in the sixth, right fielder Debbie Lobato made a running catch of Calhoun’s fly ball. And with one out in the seventh, Villareal hit a sharp grounder that deflected off Heydt to shortstop Janis Zeramby, who made a strong throw to first for the out.

“We haven’t seen the caliber of ball that teams like Mission Viejo play in some time,” Svoboda said. “And we tried to make a lot of things happen against them. But we just couldn’t get anything going.”

Kuhns gave up only four hits, two each in the second and third innings.

In other 2-A games:

San Clemente 1, El Monte 0--Sophomore Tara Roush threw a one-hitter to lead host San Clemente (21-6). Roush had a no-hitter with two out in the seventh but gave up a single. San Clemente took the lead in the fifth, as Shani Heinz scored on a passed ball. San Clemente plays Corona in the quarterfinals Friday.

Laguna Hills 6, Saugus 0--Margo Melendrez (17-8) threw a two-hitter, striking out two, to lead Laguna Hills (18-9) at Saugus. Melendrez also had three hits, including a three-run homer. Laguna Hills will host Santa Fe Friday in the quarterfinals.