Verdugo Hills Answers the Bell in First Round : High school softball: Dons get only one hit, but defending City Section 3-A champions prevail, 1-0.

It was the worst offensive performance of the year for the Verdugo Hills High softball team, defending City Section 3-A champion.

But the Dons certainly didn’t let that stop them in their quest to repeat.

Maryann May’s waist-high drive into center field was the Dons’ only hit--a triple--Thursday against Bell, but it was the difference in Verdugo Hills’ 1-0 victory in a first-round 3-A playoff game.

With two out in the third inning, May ripped a liner up the middle. As she was rounding second, the ball bounced past center fielder Isabel Sosa for an error. May scored easily for the game’s only run.

Verdugo Hills (16-3), the division’s second-seeded team, will face Lincoln, a 6-3 winner over South Gate, in a quarterfinal-round game Tuesday. Before facing Bell (7-6), an at-large team that finished third in the Eastern League, Verdugo Hills had scored no fewer than six runs in a game, Coach Dan Balkey said.

“I think they were nervous and anxious today because they are so used to scoring so many runs,” Balkey said of his team. “We try to tell them it’s a new season, but I think now they know they can be beat and outhit.

“I think this is like a wake-up call for them.”

There was nothing particularly special about the delivery of Bell right-hander Yvette Serrano (7-6), who walked four and hit one batter. But she certainly had the Dons baffled, enticing them to pop up or fly out 12 times.

Meanwhile, Bell had three hits off junior left-hander Shannon Schoonover (13-0), who struck out three and did not walk a batter.

“We definitely outplayed them, no doubt about it,” first-year Bell Coach Mario Caldevilla said.

Dons’ center fielder Melanie Wood kept the Eagles from scoring in the top of the third with a fine defensive play. Serrano, who reached base on an error with two out, tried to score from second two batters later on a hit by Magdalena Soto. Wood scooped up Soto’s hit and threw a one-hop strike to catcher Jodi Kent, who blocked the plate and tagged out Serrano.

Verdugo Hills, which has hit 16 home runs this season, stranded six runners, five in scoring position.