Another Reign for La Reina, 1-0

Senior slugger Mackenzie Vandergeest of La Reina High didn’t get the chance.

Nor did senior Kristen Ward.

The opportunity was bestowed upon a freshman.

And Jenny Ortez performed like a veteran.

With the bases loaded in the bottom of seventh, Ortez ripped a chopper through the left side of the infield to score Sarah DiJulio and give La Reina a 1-0 victory Friday night in a Southern Section Division V championship game at Mayfair Park.

It is the fifth title for the Regents (24-4), the third under Coach Don Hyatt. La Reina won titles in 1980, ‘81, ’91 and ’92.

“That’s not the same team we saw earlier in the year,” said Hyatt, whose team defeated the Seraphs, 5-0 and 8-0, in Tri-Valley League play.

Against a Seraph team that rode a tidal wave of upsets through the playoffs, La Reina stole St. Bonaventure’s thunder in the seventh inning.

DiJulio led off the inning with a sharp ground ball inches inside the foul line and off the glove of third baseman Debra Garvin for a single. DiJulio was awarded second base when the ball rolled into the La Reina dugout.

With a Regent runner in scoring position for only the second time in the game, ace Annie Marostica of St. Bonaventure intentionally walked Arizona-bound Vandergeest, who came into the game batting .566 with 37 runs batted in.

Tracey Clark’s ground out to third moved runners to second and third before Marostica intentionally walked Ward, a .390 hitter, to get to a 14-year-old freshman who was batting .235.

The strategy gave Hyatt pause.

“[I was] seriously considering the squeeze because Sarah is one of our fastest players,” Hyatt said.

But Hyatt reconsidered and let Ortez swing away.

“We were trying to jam her and get a nubber for a home to first [double] play. But she got her bat head out and made a good hit,” Coach Craig Parrish of St. Bonaventure said.

Ortez hit an 0-and-1 pitch into left field.

“I was nervous,” said Ortez, a 5-foot-2 right fielder. “I was shaking. I just had to relax and be confident.”

St. Bonaventure (19-11), playing in its first title game, had several opportunities, but couldn’t put the storybook ending on a spectacular postseason.

“It’s not the right ending we were going for,” Parrish said. “We wrote three-quarters of the book, we just didn’t write the last.”

The Seraphs stranded five runners, including three in scoring position.

In the second, Shannon Fink drew a lead-off walk and advanced to third on a sacrifice by Danielle Morales and Marostica’s groundout. Lyndsi Wilder grounded to first baseman Kerri Adams.

Marostica (17-8), who struck out three of the first five batters, retired 12 consecutive batters after Monica Thompson reached base on an error to lead off the first inning.

Ward (16-4), who allowed three hits and struck out seven, singled up the middle for the Regents’ first hit in the fifth.