SOUTHERN SECTION BASEBALL PLAYOFFS : DIVISION I : Anger Helps Los Alamitos Advance

Los Alamitos High’s Debbie Wilson was still shaking her head in disgust over the plate umpire’s strike call when the next pitch was delivered.

Turns out anger motivates Wilson best.

On an 0-and-1 pitch, Wilson ripped a run-scoring double to left to score Michelle Schneider in the top of seventh Tuesday to beat Camarillo, 1-0, in a semifinal of the Southern Section Division I softball playoffs in Newbury Park.

Los Alamitos (24-3), the Empire League champion, will face top-seeded Simi Valley at 7:30 p.m. Saturday in the Division I final at Mayfair Park in Lakewood. Camarillo, which finished one-half game behind Simi Valley in the Marmonte League, ends its season at 23-7.

The game started as a pitching duel between Los Alamitos’ Carrie Dolan and Camarillo’s Laura Richardson, both senior right-handers. Dolan and Richardson matched each other pitch for pitch. Both had no-hittersthrough six innings. Both lost those bids in the seventh.

Wilson’s double was the only hit the Griffins had off Richardson (19-4), who kept Los Alamitos batters off-balance with a good mix of drops and riseballs.

“She moved the ball around really well,” Wilson said. “She had that rise that really rose and we couldn’t hit it. Then she would go outside with it. . . . “

The pitch Wilson hit, however, was a rise that would “flatten out,” according to Richardson.

Extra innings appeared imminent until the seventh, when Wilson dug into the batter’s box with one out and Schneider at second. Schneider walked and advanced to second on Carolyn Wilson’s groundout.

The first pitch to Wilson appeared lower than her knees, but the umpire called it a strike. Wilson was outraged and after a quick stare down with the umpire, Wilson dug in again, shaking her head in disapproval.

On the next pitch, Wilson ripped a liner over the head of left fielder Robin Degner, who was playing rather shallow.

Schneider scored easily.