PREP ROUNDUP : Mission Viejo Gains Respect Despite Loss

Mission Viejo was getting used to the role. First, Garden Grove took the Diablos lightly. Then Woodbridge. But the magic ran out Saturday night.

Saugus beat Mission Viejo, 5-0, in a semifinal of the Woodbridge Classic softball tournament at Irvine’s Harvard Park.

Mission Viejo Coach Gerry Mauro told his team no one expected it to win, and his team’s accomplishments weren’t lost on him. In fact, the story of the day was that the Diablos were even in the semifinals.

“We thought Woodbridge was a better ballclub,” Mauro said, “but we thought if we could score early, we felt confident in our defense.”

They scored early against Woodbridge, but couldn’t score early against Saugus, though they had their chance. They had the bases loaded in the first inning, but Jamie Gillies (10-3) struck out the final two batters of the inning to end the threat.

“If we score there,” Mauro said, “it would have been a different outcome.”

They didn’t. Nor did they score in the fifth inning when they loaded the bases again.

Treva Whitaker, whose two-run homer went about 300 feet and helped Mission Viejo upset Woodbridge, had switched to a different bat this week. Although she wouldn’t normally use such a heavy bat against such a hard thrower, the cleanup hitter said the homer played a factor in bat selection when she went to the plate in the fifth inning, her team trailing 3-0, with two outs and the bases loaded.

She watched Gillies paint the outside corner for two strikes, then got jammed up and in; she grounded to first base.

“I knew we needed a big hit there,” she said. “I wasn’t thinking home run, I was thinking contact because the bat was so heavy.”

Saugus (13-3), No. 1 in the Southern Section Division II rankings, plays Lakewood--a 1-0 winner over La Mirada--in Monday’s title game.

“In this tournament, being an underdog was an advantage for us,” said Mauro, whose team was 6-22 last year. “Very few teams here gave us any respect.”

Mission Viejo is 9-8-1.

Whitaker, Mission Viejo’s only senior, had a three-base throwing error in the top of the fifth inning that allowed two runs to score to put the Diablos in the 3-0 hole. The irony was knee-deep: Whitaker’s best game of her career had taken place just a few hours earlier.

“I asked myself why I had to have my worst game of the year in the most important game of the year,” Whitaker recalled. “Maybe I was due.”

But Mission Viejo got some respect beating Woodbridge--ranked fifth in Orange County. The Warriors started their No. 2 pitcher, Jackie Sukiasian, just as Garden Grove had started its No. 2 pitcher a week earlier in the tournament’s pool play--which the Diablos won to advance to the championship bracket.

Mission Viejo beat Woodbridge, 3-0; addition to Whitaker’s homer, Laura Meith pitched a four-hitter.

“(The Woodbridge game) was a tremendous high,” Whitaker said. “All we wanted to do was gain some respect back.”

In other Woodbridge tournament games:

Kennedy 1, Woodbridge 0--No. 8 Kennedy (10-7) had three of its five hits in the fifth inning, including an RBI single by Leslie Prochaska, to beat Woodbridge (13-7). Lisa Pitt pitched a three-hitter.

Saugus 3, Kennedy 0--Pitt allowed two runs and lasted only one-third of an inning in a quarterfinal game.

La Mirada 2, Irvine 1--Amy Young (5-5) gave up two runs in the first two innings in a quarterfinal game.

La Habra 2, Garden Grove 0--Aimee Weathers had two hits and an RBI for the Highlanders (14-3).

La Habra 1, Huntington Beach 0 (8)--Winning pitcher Cristy Turner gave up three hits and struck out 12. Andrea Russell drove in Jana Chavez with the winning run.

In the Las Vegas Bishop Gorman tournament:

Tustin 8, Las Vegas Bishop Gorman 2--Pepe Vazquez struck out six and gave up two runs and five hits to help Tustin (12-4-1) over previously-unbeaten Bishop Gorman (15-1) in pool play. Nick Madrid and Kevin Timone each had two RBIs for the Tillers.

Casey Chop had two hits in Tustin’s 6-4 loss to Pleasant Grove (Utah).