Notebook : Her Boddy of Work in ’95 Is Second Best All Time

Almost unnoticed this year was softball pitcher Colleen Boddy’s 26 victories for Mater Dei.

That total matched Newhall Hart’s Samantha Ford (1984) and Kym Weil (1990) and Santa Maria Righetti’s Heather Compton (1989) for second best in the Southern Section record book. The record for single-season victories is held by Ocean View’s Jacki Oakley, who went 31-0 in 1985.

Boddy (26-5) reached No. 26 against Los Alamitos--while pitching with green fingernails.

“I’m an Irish girl--I wasn’t happy with my performance against La Quinta [a 17-1 victory in the first round],” Boddy said. “Our team is very superstitious. I’m not changing them.”

Her luck ran out in the finals: Mater Dei lost to Marina, 3-0.

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Los Alamitos reached the Division I softball semifinals by playing superior defense. The Griffins made eight errors all season--then made four against Mater Dei while losing, 3-0.

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La Quinta’s 8-4 victory over Santa Margarita on Saturday, giving the the Aztecs a second consecutive Southern Section Division III championship, was the perfect finish for their baseball team.

Saturday was the third consecutive division final for the Aztecs, and the victory improved their record over the past three years to 80-12-1. Coach Dave Demarest likes to downplay the talent level at La Quinta--”you don’t see too many La Quinta players drafted by the pros”--but the senior group of Aztecs players can rest assured they have been part of something special.

“I sat on the bench for two years watching, and it was pretty exciting,” Jon Gibson said after Saturday’s game. “To get to play in the game is unbelievable. But all the credit has to go to Coach Demarest and the other coaches. They prepared us for just about every possible situation. We felt ready for everything Santa Margarita would do.”

Junior right-hander Craig Jones--whose 15 victories tied the county single-season record set by Andy Messersmith in 1963 and equaled by Jim Livernois in 1994--said La Quinta’s last three years qualify as “a dynasty.”

“People might wonder how we do it,” Jones said. “It’s been a lot of hard work. We have so much to be thankful for.”

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Liberty Christian pitcher Ray Cook tied the school record for strikeouts in a season with his 10 against La Verne Lutheran; he finished with 115, matching Chris Buckles’ 1989 total.

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After Woodbridge came from behind to win the Division II quarterfinals and semifinals, and twice came from behind to win the title game against Lakewood, 4-3, in eight innings, Alan Dugard said of his softball players: “They’re young and they make mistakes mentally and physically. We make them and we pay for them, and then they come back and do what they have to do to overcome them.”

The Warriors finished the season 24-9 and won nine of their last 10 games.

* Don Turnbull and Times staff writer Mike Terry contributed to this story.