La Habra Knocks Off No. 5 El Toro

The four best high school softball teams in Orange County are Foothill, Mater Dei, Pacifica and Woodbridge.

It’s the next team on the list that concerns La Habra.

The ninth-ranked Highlanders made their bid to move a little closer to the elite Thursday with a 3-0 nonleague victory over fifth-ranked El Toro.

It capped a good week for the host Highlanders, who lost Tuesday to second-ranked Mater Dei, 1-0, on an unearned run but showed plenty of poise in defeating the Chargers.

“In the county, there’s ‘The Big Four,’ and El Toro is [ranked] fifth,” La Habra Coach Sue Briquelet said. “We wanted to have the chance to say we’re right behind the big four.”

La Habra (8-2-1) made the most of its opportunity, forcing El Toro (10-5) to make plays offensively and defensively.

The Chargers didn’t make them.

A wild pitch and two errors on a grounder to first base allowed Jennifer Smallwood (who walked) to score in the first inning.

Smallwood’s third-inning walk, then a triple lined through the right-center field gap by Jenny Topping, provided the second run. Topping scored on a wild pitch.

The triple was one of only four balls pulled against El Toro pitcher Susan Churchwell (6-2), who allowed her first earned run. Topping also pulled another ball, which went for the last of three Chargers’ errors. Churchwell walked two and gave up three hits.

“We need to show we can keep up with the Mater Deis and Pacificas,” Topping said. “Of all my four years, this is the year we have the team to go all the way.”

Christina Gibbons (5-1) pitched a four-hitter for La Habra, which will play in Division III--same as Pacifica. Topping, a two-time Times All-County catcher, was ejected in the fifth inning for a slide into second baseman Nicole Everett (who had two hits) that was deemed “too aggressive” by umpire Mark Mazur.

It was El Toro’s second consecutive loss; the Chargers lost to seventh-ranked Marina Tuesday.