Buena Scurries to Softball Final With 2-0 Win

Little ball paid big dividends for Buena High’s softball team as the Bulldogs bunted and ran their way to a 2-0 victory over Fountain Valley in a Southern Section 5-A Division semifinal Tuesday at Golden West College.

Buena (22-6) will meet Camarillo for the title Saturday night at Mayfair Park in Lakewood. It will be the Bulldogs’ third trip to the final in four years and their first in the 5-A.

Pitcher Kristi Parcel and an airtight defense combined to send Fountain Valley (21-5) to the sidelines and end the successful four-year prep career of Baron pitcher Rae Rice.

Parcel (18-3) yielded only three hits, struck out two and walked none. Rice (17-4) struck out four, gave up three hits and held Buena hitless until Julie Hardy’s one-out single to left in the fifth inning, the only Buena ball hit out of the infield.

Buena scratched out its two runs in the sixth on two infield hits, two errors and a wild pitch.

Amy Henry reached first when she bunted past Rice. Marie Goulette’s two-strike bunt deflected off Rice’s glove to shortstop Shannon Dolan, whose throwing error sent the runners to second and third. Pinch-runner Mary Campos scored on Rice’s wild pitch and Goulette came home on another throwing error.

Second baseman Lianne Ishikawa made two outstanding defensive plays to thwart a Fountain Valley threat in the bottom of the sixth after Robin Northcraft had reached first base on an error.

First, Ishikawa dived to knock down Danelle Lovetro’s hard line drive and almost threw her out at first.

Next, she caught Dolan’s bouncer, tagged Lovetro and threw out Dolan at first for an inning-ending double play.

“Defense has been the forte of our program since I’ve been at Buena,” Bulldog Coach Sharon Coggins said. “We were 2-5 earlier in the season when (assistant coach) Jerry Hendrix and I spent three hours one day and changed all the players around to new positions. Some people in our area think I’m too hard on them, but we get a lot out of them.”