Woodbridge Start Is Too Big of an Obstacle for Marina

The first inning began with a shortstop double-pumping on a throw to first. It ended eight runs later with fourth-seeded Woodbridge apparently on Easy Street.

But the highly anticipated Division II showdown between Woodbridge and Marina in the Southern Section softball quarterfinals was anything but easy.

Woodbridge outlasted the Vikings, 11-6, eliminating Marina from the playoffs for the third consecutive year.

“I wasn’t exactly worried,” said Woodbridge’s Natasha Watley, “but it was nerve-racking.

“I wanted to get the game over.”

It ended with the bases loaded and Marina’s No. 5 hitter, Steffany Stenglein batting. Stenglein hit a fly to right fielder Breana Bohls, allowing the Warriors to breathe a sigh of relief.

Woodbridge (23-9) will play at Moreno Valley (22-7) on Tuesday in the semifinals. Moreno Valley defeated Saugus, 5-0. Marina, ranked eighth in Orange County (to Woodbridge’s No. 3), finished 21-10.

“If we had a couple more hits in the middle innings when we had some runners on base, it might have been a different outcome,” Marina Coach Shelly Luth said. “The girls really wanted to win.”

But the first-inning hole they dug was just too deep.

Watley beat out for a single a sharply hit ball to shortstop Natalie Bonillas, who did nothing more than tap her glove twice before throwing to first base.

Next pitch, Watley was at second with a steal. Next pitch, she was at third on Bohls’ shallow single.

Then, Erica Greenberg hit a bouncer to third baseman Carrie Hagen, who looked Watley back to third, then threw to first base. Watley broke toward home plate while Stenglein, defending against the bunt, couldn’t find first base with her foot. Watley beat Stenglein’s throw home, neatly sliding around Devin Sailor’s tag.

Then, the sky fell.

Breanne Cooley doubled home two runs, and Connie Coleman singled for a 4-0 lead. An error, a squeeze bunt by Sierra Cristiano, and RBI singles by Watley and Bohls accounted for an eight-run inning.

“They can hit, they can bunt, they can run--they’re very difficult to play defense against,” said Luth, whose team committed five errors, three in the first inning. “We just couldn’t get any outs.”

Watley had two hits, two RBIs and scored three times. Greenberg and Cooley also had two hits as Woodbridge added two runs in the third and another in the fifth.

It might have been a different outcome if not for Watley’s first hit and the play on Greenberg’s grounder. Marina outhit Woodbridge, 11-10, and showed its resilience by scoring three in the second inning on Bree Boyer’s bases-loaded triple, and three in the seventh on RBI singles by Hagen, Bonillas and Christina Klinzing.

Tracy Alcaraz (22-7) got the win. Brooke Crouch (11-4) took the loss. Boyer gave up three runs on four hits in five innings of relief.

In another Division II game:

Corona 1, Kennedy 0 (8 innings)--Freshman pinch-hitter Michelle Falskin, with only one varsity at-bat this season, got a two-out, full-count, bases-loaded infield single for third-seeded Corona (25-5). Shortstop Breanne Sabol tried to make a play at third base, but winning pitcher Kristi DeVries was safe. DeVries struck out 13. Michelle Turner (9-3) struck out eight, allowing six hits. Kennedy is 18-10.