Irvine’s One Run in First Spells the End for Foothill : High schools: Errors prove costly for the Knights. Vaqueros win their first Southern Section softball title.

It was prom night at Irvine High and the seniors on the softball team had a little extra to celebrate after they defeated Foothill, 1-0, to win the Southern Section 4-A title in front of 1,600 at Mayfair Park.

The victory was the first Southern Section championship for an Irvine softball team. The South Coast League champion Vaqueros, who were seeded fourth, finish 25-3. Foothill, the Century League champion and second seeded, ends 24-3. The Knights had won 22 consecutive games.

Neither team mustered much offense, with Irvine right-hander Jennifer Brundage (21-2) allowing two hits and Foothill right-hander Leeann Gonzalez (21-3) only one.

Both teams were shaky on defense, particularly in the early innings. Foothill committed four errors--two in the first inning--and Irvine had three. The errors were not costly for Irvine, but turned out to be critical for Foothill.

Irvine scored without the benefit of a base hit.

With two outs in the first inning, Brundage sent a deep fly that fell behind left fielder Julie Metzger for a two-base error. Karissa Meith followed with a grounder that shortstop Kathy Shortall threw away, scoring Brundage.

“We were fortunate we were down only 1-0 at that point,” said Foothill Coach Joe Gonzalez.

The Foothill players appeared nervous in the first inning, especially Gonzalez.

“I told the girls that if they were going to do it, they’d have to jump on her in the first inning,” Irvine Coach Lisa Limp said. “They came out real nervous and we took advantage of that situation. By the second inning they had tightened their defense.”

For Foothill, that was an inning too late.

But the Knights did hang tough after the first-inning blunders. Irvine, in fact, threatened again in the second inning. A leadoff single by Carly Girton, a sacrifice and an error put runners at second and third, but Gonzalez got the next two batters to ground out.

Foothill managed to get a runner to third in the sixth inning with two outs but couldn’t score. Amy Tessman walked to open the inning and was sacrificed to second by Kelley Green. But Brundage got Shortall on a grounder to short that advanced Tessman to third and struck out Christina Mazurie, who chased a high fastball, to end the inning.

The Knights also advanced runners to second base in the second, third, fourth and fifth innings, but Brundage was able to work her way out of each jam.

Brundage had 10 strikeouts and walked one. Gonzalez, the Foothill coach’s daughter, finished with two strikeouts and walked none.

For Joe Gonzalez, getting so close to a title was understandably disappointing, but he remained upbeat.

“It’s tough to lose here,” he said. “I feel bad for our seniors, but I think we’ll be back here next year.”