PREP ROUNDUP : Laguna Hills Continues Rush to Softball Title

For all practical purposes, the race for the Pacific Coast League softball title is over.

Laguna Hills moved a step closer to the championship Tuesday with a 1-0 victory at Trabuco Hills, giving the Hawks (13-7-1, 7-0 in league) a two-game cushion with three games remaining.

The loss dropped Trabuco Hills, which shared the league championship with Laguna Hills last season, to 14-9 and 5-2. And with no other team in the league apparently capable of giving the Hawks a close game, much less beat them, the Mustangs most likely will have to settle for second this year.

Laguna Hills has not been scored upon in the past 35 innings of league play, having pounded the opposition, 69-0, during that span. The only runs the Hawks have allowed to league opponents came in a 16-4 victory over Century April 7 and a 6-5 victory over Trabuco Hills two days later.

Tuesday, Laguna Hills managed only a first-inning run, but freshman right-hander Therese Lee (7-2) made it stand up with the help of several outstanding defensive plays by Hawk infielders.

The score came when leadoff batter Alycia Stevens bunted safely and came around two outs later on a single to right field by third baseman Jennifer Arzola.

“Our first inning was typical for us,” Laguna Hills Coach Cary Crouch said.

Lee, who allowed seven hits and didn’t strike out a batter, worked her way out of a one-out, bases-loaded jam in the third by getting Terrisa Summa and clean-up batter Christy Lunceford to ground into forceouts.

Trabuco Hills had another chance to score in the sixth when Summa and Lunceford opened with singles and advanced on designated hitter Stephanie Pike’s sacrifice. But April Kargel hit into a third-to-first-to-home double play to end the threat.

Right-hander Amy Rodriguez (6-3) started for the Mustangs and suffered the loss. She was relieved in the fourth by Brianna Burkman.