Zapata Shakes Injury Before Helping East Beat West, 4-3

From the first inning on, Sonia Zapata nursed a strained abdominal muscle she injured stretching for a ground ball.

The Canyon High shortstop proved a bigger pain in the side of the opposing West team Monday in the 14th San Fernando Valley all-star softball game.

She had three hits, drove in two runs and scored twice, including the game-winner in the bottom of the ninth, to lead the East to a 4-3 victory at the Glendale Sports Complex.

Zapata, who will walk on next season at Cal State Northridge, had two doubles, including one off Erin Voeltz of Westlake to begin the last-inning rally. She moved to third on an error and scored when Keri Pulcifer of Highland chopped a single to left field.

“It was a good challenge,” she said after getting a hit off vaunted pitchers Kathryn Nevard of Camarillo, Amy Rosson of Calabasas and Voeltz. “This felt good.”

Nobody felt bad after the region’s premier showcase of graduating seniors.

“When you get a chance to put all the best athletes on the same field, you can’t lose,” said West co-Coach Darwin Tolzin of Westlake.

It appeared unlikely that the West would lose, with a pitching staff that included Nevard, the most dominant pitcher in Ventura County, Rosson, the Division IV player of the year, and Voeltz, who had a 0.44 ERA.

“They were great,” East co-Coach Donna Lee said of the West’s pitching. “But it’s not every day they have to face a lineup with 22 all-stars..”

Julie Watson of Saugus and Carrie Mitchell of Valencia each had two hits for the East, which had 11 total. Amanda Oleson of Agoura had two of the West’s nine hits.

The West built a 3-2 lead after two innings, but Amanda Fortune of Hart, Emily Brower of Burbank and Anna Russell of Harvard-Westlake combined for seven shutout innings of relief.

The West took a 2-0 lead in the first on a run-scoring groundout by Alicia White of Agoura and a sacrifice fly by Oli Keohohou of Newbury Park.

Zapata tied it with a two-run single, but Davis Beck of Moorpark singled home Shawna Lane of Thousand Oaks for a 3-2 West lead.

Zapata doubled and scored on an Evans single in the sixth to tie it, 3-3.