Camarillo Eliminates Pacifica, 1-0

Pacifica High softball Coach Rob Weil has seen it happen before. But the familiarity certainly didn’t make it any easier to accept.

Camarillo’s Jefflyn Spahr scored the winning run in the bottom of the 10th inning on a throwing error to beat Pacifica, 1-0, on Thursday in a Southern Section Division I quarterfinal game.

“It’s the way we’ve lost the last three years in the quarters,” Weil said. “Call it the quarterfinal jinx.”

Camarillo will face top-seeded Santa Ana Foothill in a semifinal game Tuesday at a site to be determined.

With pitchers Amanda Freed of Pacifica and Melanie Richardson of Camarillo dominating the game, it came down to which team would crack under the pressure and fear of elimination.

Pacifica (26-4), a Garden Grove school that starts seven underclassmen--including four freshmen--played error-free ball through 9 1/3 innings until the fatal mistake.

After Freed (13-3) struck out Brooke Rutschman for the fourth time, Spahr walked on a full count and advanced to second when second baseman Dara Webb threw late to shortstop Toni Mascarenas on a grounder by Jessica Ziese.

Two pitches later, Kortney Edge, who drove in both runs Tuesday in the Scorpions’ 2-1 victory over Rio Mesa, hit a chopper to first baseman Andrea Pickett.

But Pickett’s one-hopper throw caromed off third baseman Toria Auelua’s forearm into left field, allowing Spahr to dive across the plate just ahead of Mascarenas’ throw.

“Once we started to put the ball in play, I knew we would be OK,” Camarillo Coach Nichole Victoria said. “That’s how you make things happen.”

Camarillo (22-2-1), which has played in nine extra-inning games this season, had just three hits.

But Freed, a sophomore right-hander who seemed to have problems with Camarillo’s raised pitching circle, walked eight and hit two batters.

Richardson, a senior right-hander and off-speed pitcher, kept Camarillo in the game through nine innings before being relieved by hard-throwing Cindy Ball to start the 10th.

Richardson allowed two hits and five walks and struck out nine, but worked herself into a jam in the third.

Pacifica loaded the bases with two out in the inning on back-to-back walks and a single by Tasha Sisco. But Auelua grounded out to first baseman Ziese to end the inning.

Ball (11-1), a sophomore right-hander, struck out two and walked one.

Both teams wasted several opportunities to score early. Camarillo stranded 11 runners and Pacifica nine.

“We didn’t execute in the big situations,” Weil said.