Chaminade Pulls Up Short

With players out of place in a juggled lineup, Chaminade High was out of position to win, and finally, out of the playoffs.

The second-seeded Eagles fell to unseeded Rosary, 1-0, on an unearned run scored in the sixth inning of a Southern Section Division IV semifinal Tuesday at Valley College.

The loss stopped Chaminade (22-8-1) short of its first appearance in a title game and sent the Royals (26-6) on to face Corona Santiago in the final Friday or Saturday at Mayfair Park. Santiago routed Harvard-Westlake, 14-2, in another semifinal Tuesday.

“This is very disappointing,” said Chaminade assistant Kelly Toovey.

Toovey guided the Eagles on Tuesday in the place of Coach Steve Harrington, who was required to sit the game out after being ejected from Chaminade’s quarterfinal victory last week.

“We didn’t execute when we needed to at the plate, and there were routine-type plays for us that we just didn’t make.”

Rosary’s run was scored by Erin Connors with two out in the sixth inning. She reached on a fielder’s choice and went to third on a double by the Royals’ clean-up batter, Natalie Golda.

The throw from Chaminade center-fielder Lauren Rousselet ricocheted off the glove of third baseman Kelly Musgrove and rolled toward the Eagles’ dugout.

The ball was retrieved by pitcher Maureen LeCocq, who made a desperate throw home to catcher Erin Taylor, but Connors had already scored.

In defense of Chaminade’s defense, Rosary capitalized on changes in the Eagles’ lineup that were forced by injury.

Regular third baseman Lindsey Weinstein sat out with a broken right hand, forcing Musgrove, the regular center-fielder, into only her second game at third. Kaiulani Welch played left field in place of Rousselet, who moved to center to replace Musgrove.

The unearned run left LeCocq (22-8) with a streak of 164 consecutive innings in which she has not allowed an earned run. It also left her disappointed, despite a four-hitter in which she struck out 10 and walked two.

“I felt like I was on and everything was looking good,” she said. “We just didn’t execute when we had to.”

Chaminade’s only hits off winning pitcher Christy Ledford (15-5) were a first-inning double by LeCocq and consecutive singles by Amanda Pearlman and Amy Biersch to open the fifth inning.