SOFTBALL / DIVISION I : Los Alamitos Gets Boot in 3-0 Loss to Mater Dei

They played inning after inning, walking a tightrope toward the championship game, delicately balanced over playoff elimination.

And then came the sixth inning, when Mater Dei pushed Los Alamitos off the high wire and out of the Southern Section Division I playoffs.

The third-seeded Monarchs scored three runs on two hits and two errors in the sixth inning for a 3-0 semifinal victory over unseeded Los Alamitos Tuesday at Canyon High. Mater Dei (27-4) will play Marina (23-5) in Friday night’s championship game at 7:30 p.m. at Lakewood’s Mayfair Park.

The Monarchs beat Marina earlier this year, 3-1. Los Alamitos, second to Marina in the Sunset League, finished 21-7.

Though both teams had several opportunities to win the game at the plate, it was Mater Dei that came through in the clutch--and it was a pinch-hitter who provided the crucial blow.

Backup catcher Margaret Hollis was summoned to the plate with one down and runners at first and second, and she pounced on the first pitch from Mandy Rockwell (11-1). Hollis drilled the ball between third baseman Cyndi Tredway and the third base bag, scoring Courtney Ryan, who singled, and Shealee Dunavan, who reached first on an error.

After moving up a base on another error--the second of the inning by Los Alamitos shortstop Michelle Schneider--Hollis scored on a fly ball to center field by the No. 9 batter, Jodi Schicker.

It was an unusual inning--Schneider had committed only one error all season. It was in stark contrast to the rest of the game as the Los Alamitos defense repeatedly rescued Rockwell; Mater Dei had runners in scoring position in every inning but the second. Both teams stranded seven, and Los Alamitos stranded two in the first, third and seventh innings.

“We’ve been hitting in key situations, but they punched us out,” said Mater Dei Coach Doug Myers, whose team had outscored three playoff opponents, 29-1. “Then Margaret came through.”

In the seventh inning, Los Alamitos mounted a scoring threat that appeared as if it would challenge Mater Dei’s three-run lead. With one out, Dinha Mead singled and Megan Barnes walked. Sophomore Vanessa Juarez-Marquez, entering her first varsity game, was a pinch-runner for Barnes.

Then the starting catcher, Ryan, made the play of the game. On the first pitch, with second baseman Kelsey Kollen dashing behind the runner, Ryan picked off Juarez-Marquez on a designed play.

“We’ve been playing [Ryan] because she’s really effective at picking people off,” Myers said.

Said pitcher Colleen Boddy (26-4): “It was huge, probably because I was struggling.”

Dana Olmstead followed with a single that would have loaded the bases with none out. But Boddy struck out Cathy Sponheim and got Amanda Peterson to bounce to second to end the game.