Irvine Stops Short, Falls to Woodbridge

Irvine baserunner Jessyca Thompson avoided getting hit by the ground ball. She also avoided the shortstop who was trying to field it.

She was called out for interference.

The uncommon ruling prevented Thompson from scoring the tying run in the bottom of the sixth inning, and was a critical moment in Woodbridge’s 2-1 Sea View League softball victory over Irvine Wednesday at Heritage Park.

Woodbridge, 17-9 overall, 3-1 in league, remained in first place with Aliso Niguel; Irvine (14-7, 2-2) fell into a tie with Laguna Hills for third place.

“I might be partial, but there’s really not much you can do,” said Thompson, whose stutter-steps in front of Woodbridge shortstop Brittany Ziegler constituted interference in the mind of home plate umpire Hal Frank. The ball went off Ziegler and Thompson ran home from second base for the apparent score.

“The rule says a runner may not interfere with a defensive player to make a play; she does not have to make contact, in high school, with the player,” said Frank, who signaled the out immediately. “[Thompson] has to stop, or go behind the play. She forced the shortstop to alter her approach to the ball.”

The play was costly because it was the last out of the inning, a run would have scored, and two runners would have been on base.

“The interference call could’ve gone either way,” said Brittany Crouch, Woodridge’s freshman pitcher. “I was definitely struggling [in the inning]. Mentally, I wasn’t ready, and it was near the end of the game and I was tired. I was pretty nervous. I’m 14 trying to act like a senior. We definitely caught a break.”

Crouch (13-5) also caught a break in the seventh inning. With one out and pinch-runner Nikki-Rae Alkema at second base, Alkema was thrown out at third by Woodbridge’s Brittany Davison on a single to left-center. Alkema broke back toward second base as Heather Walker lined over shortstop, then started late toward third base and was an easy out.

Crouch also created her own luck. She gave up six hits, and struck out only three--but one came at a particularly opportune moment. Irvine, having scored on Kendra Singley’s leadoff walk and Kari Singley’s one-out triple in the bottom of the first inning, needed Thompson, the cleanup batter, to put the ball in play to tie the score at 2-2.

Instead, Thompson lost a full-count duel to Crouch after fouling off four pitches with two strikes.

“You just have to swing at whatever’s close,” Thompson said. “In a game like that, it’s a tough way to go down, striking out with a runner at third.”

Thompson had two of Irvine’s six hits.

Woodbridge staked Crouch to a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning when Ziegler singled, Katharine Shiota walked, and both scored on a fielding error by Walker at second base on Breanne Cooley’s grounder.

“Honestly, I thought we’d need at least three or four runs to win,” Crouch said.

Losing pitcher Kari Singley (14-5) gave up four hits, two to Maritza Padilla, and struck out 12.