HIGH SCHOOL SOFTBALL : Patrick Henry Defeats Granite Hills for Title

In a perfect world, Patrick Henry’s 2-1 victory over Granite Hills in the San Diego Section 3-A championship softball final would be remembered for everything but the way it ended.

The 12-inning marathon at the Mesa del Sol complex Saturday was marked by some great pitching, defense and baserunning.

Patrick Henry’s Tara Harre said she wanted to “end it with a bang,” and she did her part, opening the decisive 12th with the game’s only extra-base hit--a double.

But with Harre scoring the winning run on a wild pitch one out later, the game climaxed with more of murmur than a bang.

The top-seeded Patriots (21-5-1) claimed their first section title since 1977, while the Eagles (26-10-1)--who beat Patrick Henry, 3-1, in the regular season--finished runner-up for the third time. They’ve never won a final.

“I’ve played softball for 12 years and I’ve been in a lot of big games that ended like this,” said Harre, who blasted an eighth-inning triple to beat Mt. Miguel Thursday and put the Patriots in the final.

This time Harre smacked Rebekah Kilpatrick’s first pitch in the 12th down the left-field line and was safe at second with a head-first slide. She moved to third on fellow senior Kathy Cloward’s sacrifice bunt.

Kilpatrick had an 0-2 count on Shannon Murphy when her dropped ball hit the dirt, skidded to the backstop and rebounded toward the third-base line. Kilpatrick frantically chased after the ball, but Harre scored standing up.

Kilpatrick finished with 15 strikeouts, and Patrick Henry’s Amy Miner had 20.

Loretta Trombly, Granite Hills’ only senior starter, made the defensive plays of the game, going to her knees to take away one hit and backpedaling for an over-the-shoulder grab of a fly ball in the 10th inning.

She also had a perfect throw to the plate in the ninth that gunned down Melissa Turley.

With two outs in the first inning, Eagle Shawna Dahl sprinted home from second base on an infield error to score her team’s only run.

In the third, Patriot Chaundrissa Oyeshiku jarred the ball loose from catcher Christy Schilling to tie the game, 1-1.

Asked how she wanted to remember the game, a downcast Granite Hills Coach Cookie Sullivan said, “With us winning . . . with us winning.”

Miner (20-5) threw 162 pitches, 121 of them for strikes. She faced 46 batters, getting behind in the count to five. Kilpatrick (22-9) threw 190 pitches and faced 43 batters, falling behind in the count to only three.

Granite Hills played flawless defense behind Kilpatrick, who allowed six hits. Patrick Henry made four errors while Miner--who struck out every batter in the Eagle lineup--allowed three hits. The Patriots nearly gave away the game in the eighth, the last time the Eagles seriously threatened. With two outs, shortstop Oyeshiku erred on consecutive grounders, then Miner hit Carrie Kops to load the bases. The rally ended when Oyeshiku fielded Chanel Dwight’s chopper and nipped her at first base.

“Our team has grown up since the start of the season and just come through,” said Miner. “I’m proud to be part of it.”

“This is heartbreaking,” said Tromley. “But it’s also a privilege to be here, because we haven’t gone this far in a long time.”

Division 2-A

Escondido 2, Christian 1 (8 innings)--Several Christian players said they were proud to get to the 2-A final. At the beginning of the season, nobody expected to them win a section championship.

Neither did Escondido, apparently. Third-seeded Christian (22-6), having scored in the top of the seventh, couldn’t get the final three outs it needed. The top-seeded Cougars (26-2) scored once in the bottom of the seventh and once in the eighth to win their second title in a row.

San Diego State-bound Marquessa Penrod (13-2) outdueled Sarah Dawson (22-6) in another battle between two of the county’s top pitchers--both on mound and at the plate.

Dawson walked to open the seventh and scored when pinch-hitter Sarah Rice--one of five Christian sophomores--lined Penrod’s first pitch to center for an RBI single. Penrod started the bottom of the seventh drawing a base on balls against Dawson.

Penrod scored when Beth Buder singled to left-center, Patriot Marie Hardy mishandled the ball and the relay home hit a base umpire.

Christian gunned down two runners at the plate--Buder in the seventh and Mindy Anderson in the eighth--but Escondido finally won it when Michelle Saltus was safe at home on a chopper to short by Penrod.

“She’s been winning games like that for four years,” Cougar Coach Jeff Carlovsky said of Penrod, a senior who struck out 11. “In a pressure situation, I don’t want anyone else.”

Division 1-A

Bishop’s 2, Holtville 1 (8 innings)--The second-seeded Knights (18-4) claimed their sixth consecutive 1-A title with runs in the bottom of the seventh and eighth. Beth Fry’s single scored Chrystal Butcher with the tying run and Kaylie Orr’s one-out double sent home Jennifer Hay with the game-winner in the eighth.

The top-seeded Vikings and pitcher Alison Peckham fell to 28-2. Bishop’s senior Anna Bjeldanes (18-4) won her second title game while allowing two hits and striking out 12.