SOUTHERN SECTION 1-A DIVISION SOFTBALL CHAMPIONSHIP : Agoura Fulfills Its Master Plan : Chargers: Melissa Thatcher pitches four-hit shutout against Paraclete to give 5-A-bound school its second consecutive title.

Agoura High’s softball team used its Southern Section 1-A Division championship game Saturday as a springboard for its leap to the 5-A Division next season.

The Chargers, behind junior Melissa Thatcher’s four-hitter, beat Paraclete, 4-0, Saturday at Mayfair Park in Lakewood and became only the third section school to win consecutive 1-A softball titles. (La Reina won the championship in 1980 and ‘81, and Santa Maria St. Joseph won in 1982-83 and 1987-88.)

“This is exactly how we wanted to go out,” said Agoura Coach Linda Moule, whose team finished 25-5 and will compete in the 5-A Division’s Marmonte League in 1991.

Of Agoura’s five losses, four came at the hands of 5-A schools and the other was a setback against a 4-A school.

Agoura won only one game over the 1986 and 1987 seasons. Moule took over in 1987 and has led the Chargers to a 63-15 record.

“The first year we spent most of our time just teaching them how to throw and catch,” Moule said. “We got a pitcher (Thatcher) who knows how to throw strikes, and we’ve worked with them from there.”

Agoura, the division’s top-ranked team, scored three unearned runs in the third inning.

No. 9 batter Michelle Ray led off with a single and advanced to second on pitcher Laura Staats’ throwing error on Jill Hartwig’s bunt. Tamara Dulansky walked to load the bases and Leslie North followed with a run-scoring ground out.

One out later, Rachel Clarke (two for three) singled home Hartwig and Dulansky to give Agoura a 3-0 lead.

Agoura added another unearned run in the fourth. Kim Bunch singled with one out and scored when Paraclete first baseman T. J. Marcotte bobbled Ray’s bunt and threw the ball into right field.

“You can’t give up four unearned runs and expect to win a game,” said Margaret Neill, the coach of Paraclete (25-5).

Especially with the success Thatcher was enjoying. Thatcher (24-5), a right-hander, allowed only one runner past first base. She struck out five, walked none and surrendered only two singles to Stacy Mulcahy and one to Amy Ulberg and Noelle Larsen.

“I heard they were a great-hitting team, so I just wanted to keep them off-balance,” said Thatcher, who is 48-7 the past two seasons.

Thatcher received plenty of help from Agoura’s steady defense, which committed only one error. Bunch made a sliding catch in right field that saved a run in the second.

“We made the plays, and that was the difference,” Moule said.