PREP SOFTBALL ROUNDUP : Mater Dei Streaking Again, but Not the Right Way

It was a tough week for Mater Dei High School, Orange County’s top-ranked softball team. The Monarchs lost to Thousand Oaks, 2-1, Saturday in the 5-A championship game of the Canyon Tournament of Champions.

It was the second loss of the week for Mater Dei, which started the season 12-0.

Mater Dei fell behind, 1-0, in the second inning on Saturday when Ericka Gulbranson scored on a squeeze. Pitcher Terri Kobata fielded the bunt and made a perfect throw to catcher Tracy Rice, but a forceful slide jarred the ball out of Rice’s mitt.

Thousand Oaks scored again in the fourth, when Tricia Gregoire doubled and then crossed the plate after a grounder glanced off first baseman Amy Moeller’s glove and into right field.

“It’s a frustrating way to give up a run, but those things (errors) happen,” Mater Dei Coach Kathy Quesnell said. “They came out aggressive and we have a tendency, when we play aggressive teams, to take a step back. We had our chances. We had the baserunners. We just can’t get them across.”

The Monarchs had five hits but left four runners on base. Jennifer Cline’s single drove in Theresa Conway with Mater Dei’s lone run in the fourth.

Kobata (5-2) gave up only three hits and had nine strikeouts.

“Terri is a competitor. She wanted this game,” Quesnell said. “Thousand Oaks is a good team and they’re aggressive, but it’s too bad we couldn’t back Terri up.”

Kobata, Rice and Cline were named to the all-tournament team and teammate Amy Godwin was named tournament MVP on offense.

In other Canyon tournament games:

Fountain Valley 3, Simi Valley 2 (8 innings)--Both teams waited until the eighth inning to take advantage of the tiebreaker rule and the Barons took home the third-place trophy. Fountain Valley’s Rae Rice posted her fifth victory (5-0).

Los Alamitos 2, Agoura 0--Shelley Smith had the game-winning RBI as Los Alamitos picked up its 10th victory of the season in the seventh-place game. Shannon Skoglund improved to 5-1.

St. Joseph’s 5, Huntington Beach 2--Kelly Sparks of St. Joseph’s went three for three with five RBIs to help defeat Huntington Beach (2-7) in the ninth-place game.

In nonleague games:

La Habra 2-1, Ocean View 1-4 (first game, 9 innings)--Three Ocean View pitchers combined for a one-hit victory in the nightcap. Marla Pickard got the victory with relief help from Tami Dowlin and Jonna Lawson.