Mater Dei Runs Into a 4-3 Victory

Fourth-seeded Mater Dei used savvy baserunning in the bottom of the eighth to escape with a 4-3 victory over Katella in a first-round 5-A softball playoff game at Harvard Park.

Katella (14-8), the third-place team from the Empire League, had Mater Dei (21-3), the top-ranked team in the Orange County Softball Coaches’ Poll, in an unfamiliar position: behind by three runs.

“I’ll tell you something, that was scary,” Mater Dei Coach Cathy Quesnell said. “Their shortstop is phenomenal. She is unbelievable. Fortunately for us, their pitcher got a little bit rattled and walked too many people.”

Katella hadn’t made the playoffs in more than 10 years, but the Knights played like veterans of playoff action while taking a 3-0 lead with a three-run fourth inning.

Led by senior center fielder Cynthia Oliver and sophomore shortstop Tammy Lohmann, who made a number of spectacular defensive plays, Katella held Mater Dei scoreless through four innings.

Mater Dei came back slowly, getting a run in the fifth and another in the sixth before tying the score, 3-3, in the bottom of the seventh to send the game to an extra inning.

Then Amy Godwin reached on a double with one out, bringing up Tina Fuata. Fuata hit a pop foul, but the catcher dropped it. She then ground a single between third and short.

Godwin slid in ahead of the throw at third and Fuata subsequently rounded first and took a big lead toward second to draw the attention of the defense.

“It was one out and I was figuring if I get into a pickle maybe they’ll go after me and let the run score,” Fuata said.

Which is exactly what happened. Second baseman Tanya Armbruster chased Fuata back toward first, and Godwin took off for home. Armbruster’s throw to the plate was wild and Godwin scored the winning run on the error.

It was also Fuata who hit a sacrifice fly to center in the sixth to score Jennifer Cline, who had doubled. She also had a single.

“I didn’t tell Fuata to go, but I think that it was a really smart play,” Quesnell said. “As far as Amy going, I don’t think that was a great thing. I think she took too big of a leadoff. But they made a bad throw so it forced the defense.

“I didn’t want the season to end and I don’t think the kids did. We have our hearts set on this. We want to win so bad. We call it going to the show. We want to go to the CIF finals and we were going to do whatever it took. Coming back from a three-run deficit is just phenomenal. It shows what kind of character our team has.”

Freshman Jennifer Clark (14-0) pitched a two-hitter with 12 strikeouts for Mater Dei. Katella’s Leslie Gerbin gave up 10 hits, walked three and struck out one.