Given the Edge, Camarillo Takes Full Advantage, 3-1

When it comes to pushing across winning runs in the late innings, the Camarillo High softball team certainly has the Edge. That’s Kortney Edge, to be specific.

For the third time in as many playoffs games, Camarillo scored the winning run as a result of something Edge did during at the plate.

On Tuesday, Edge drove in the winning run with a single up the middle in the fifth inning and Camarillo held on to beat top-seeded Foothill, 3-1, in a Southern Section Division I semifinal before 300 spectators at Orange Coast College.

Camarillo (23-2-1), which is 6-0 in playoff games the past two seasons, will face Mater Dei, which beat Anaheim Canyon, 8-0, in the championship game Saturday night at 7:30 at Mayfair Park in Lakewood.

With the score tied, 1-1, the game took a dramatic turn in the top of the fifth. After Tommee Payan and Brooke Rutschman reached base on errors and advanced a base on Jefflyn Spahr’s sacrifice, Foothill right-hander Marie Gieron walked Jessica Ziese on four pitches to load the bases with one out. Ziese had driven in the game’s first run with a double to center in the third.

“When they walked Ziese, I had the biggest smile on my face,” Coach Nichole Victoria said. “Kortney Edge is the one who has come through for us. When the game is on the line, she’s clutch.”

In the two previous games, Edge drove in two runs in the 12th to beat Rio Mesa, 2-1, and against Pacifica two days later, her ground ball in the 10th led to a throwing error that resulted in the Scorpions’ 1-0 victory.

But, Edge, a junior cleanup hitter who is only two for 12 in the last three playoff games, considers it all a fluke.

“It’s just been the situation,” she said. “It’s not me. Anyone could have done it.”

Payan scored easily on Edge’s single, but Rutschman looked as though she would be out at the plate on a throw from right fielder Marisa Holmes. But catcher Cheri Nierman bobbled throw and Rutschman dived home for a 3-1 lead.

It marks the second time in two years that top-seeded Foothill (29-3), the Century League champion, has been eliminated by a Marmonte League team. Westlake upset Foothill in the quarterfinals last year, 3-2.

“This is a lot different team here than Westlake,” Coach Joe Gonzalez said. “We were beat by an inferior team last year. This team here is a great ballclub.”

Said Victoria: “I think the difference today was that we took control from the beginning. We hit like we can and I don’t think we’ve been doing that the past few games.”

Cindy Ball (12-1), a sophomore right-hander, allowed five hits, including two doubles. She struck out seven and walked two.

Camarillo had five hits off Gieron (22-3), who had lost to only Fresno Bullard and Pacifica this season. Foothill tied it, 1-1, in the fourth on a single by Jenny Beltrans.