Marostica Fails Again to Defeat La Reina

Annie Marostica will graduate from St. Bonaventure High today with fond memories of a remarkable run through the Southern Section softball playoffs.

She will also walk away with an 0-7 career record against La Reina, the Seraphs’ annual nemesis.

The last loss might have been the most painful.

Marostica pitched a masterpiece, holding top-seeded La Reina to only three hits, but lost, 1-0, in the Division V final on Friday night at Mayfair Park.

The decisive run scored on a one-out, bases-loaded single by Jenny Ortez in the bottom of the seventh.

But Marostica (17-8) had no regrets.

“Are you kidding?” she said. “It was a tough one, but I feel like I did my best, we had fun and I’m just proud.”

The senior right-hander handcuffed a La Reina lineup that entered batting .320 and had outscored its previous playoff opponents, 38-5.

She began the seventh with a one-hitter and retired 12 consecutive batters during one stretch. She struck out three and walked two, both intentionally in the seventh inning.

“In terms of effectiveness against hitters, that was the best I have seen her throw,” said Coach Don Hyatt of La Reina, which won its 20th consecutive game, including three against St. Bonaventure, its Tri-Valley League rival.

Said Marostica: “It seems like I always ‘almost’ get them.”

Marostica, who lost, 5-0 and 8-0 to La Reina this season, can at least claim a moral victory after coming close to defeating a league champion for the fifth time in the playoffs.

“I think we gave them a run for their money,” she said.

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Arizona-bound catcher Mackenzie Vandergeest of La Reina didn’t get an opportunity to go out a hero in her final high school game.

Vandergeest came to bat with a runner on second in the seventh, but was walked intentionally.

“I was thinking that was the time I would get my hit,” said Vandergeest, who was hitless in two at-bats.

Vandergeest led the region with nine home runs this season and finished her career with 154 hits, 18 home runs, a .456 average and 113 runs batted in.

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Shortstop Monica Thompson of La Reina fell short in her attempt to break the school record for stolen bases in a season.

Thompson, tied for the record with 31, reached base on a first-inning error, but was picked off by catcher Lyndsi Wilder.

Thompson, a junior who had stolen 44 consecutive bases over three seasons, already owns the school career record with 71.