Sharron Doesn’t Lose It in 1-0 Loss

Win or lose, know this about pitcher Jennifer Sharron of Thousand Oaks High: she is not a crybaby.

Sharron surrendered a solo home run to Lisa Tully in the sixth inning and Mater Dei freshman Marissa Young pitched a perfect game to carry the Monarchs to a 1-0 victory Friday in a Southern Section Division I quarterfinal game in front of 200 at Mile Square Park.

Second-seeded Mater Dei (28-1), which has lost only to top-seeded Foothill in a tournament game this season, will face Anaheim Canyon in a semifinal game Tuesday at a site to be determined.

Sharron (20-8), a junior left-hander who allowed only three hits and struck out eight, was all smiles after the season-ending loss and even offered words of encouragement to teammates: “Good game, you guys.”

Asked if she would have liked that home-run pitch back, she paused before answering.

“Yes and no. I was getting her on that all day,” Sharron said. “Maybe I should have thrown her a change. I don’t know. Could of, would of, should of. . . . I’ll take it as a learning experience.”

Sharron threw the left-handed batter an outside curve and Tully pulled it into the right-center field gap for an inside-the-park homer.

After Kendra Meano struck out and Kelsey Kollen was retired on foul popup, Tully stepped to the plate and slugged a line drive that carried nearly to the fence 290 feet away before center fielder Shannon Foster could run it down.

“It looked so huge and it felt so good,” Tully said. “She was mixing it up and hitting location, and in my first two at-bats that threw me off.”

Tully sped around the bases and crossed the plate well before the throw from second baseman Colleen Spencer reached home.

“We were all ready to end it that inning,” said Tully, a senior third baseman who is headed to Notre Dame on a scholarship.

Mater Dei, champion of the South Coast League, had trouble advancing runners.

Lancer catcher Justine Rachlin threw out two of three Monarchs on attempted steals.

Young (16-1), a freshman right-hander who has struck out 201 batters in 113 2/3 innings, kept Thousand Oaks (21-9) off balance throughout.

“We’re not a super-strong hitting team,” Thousand Oaks Coach Gary Walin said. “But we knew we could stay with them defensively.”

The Lancers, who did not hit the ball out of the infield, were retired on a line drive, five popups, seven grounders and eight strikeouts.

“We got the ball in play and that’s all you can ask for,” Sharron said.

Despite her dominating performance, Young, who has allowed just one earned run this season, had no idea she had been perfect.

“I didn’t know it until the game was over, which is better for me because I didn’t have to think about it,” said Young, who struck out six of the last 10 batters.