Huntington Beach softball shut out in loss to Chino Hills
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Huntington Beach’s offensive juggernaut ran into a pitcher hurling at her finest, and so the “best” softball team in school history missed out on a third successive trip to the CIF Southern Section’s top-tier final eight.
The Oilers managed just three hits through six innings and couldn’t overcome Chino Hills’ efficient attack in a 4-0 defeat Saturday in the second round of the Division 1 playoffs that closed an unexpectedly “amazing” campaign, denying them a shot at No. 1 Norco.
Senior right-hander Nadia Juarez kept Huntington Beach (22-8) off-balance by shifting speed and location, and the visiting Huskies used two second-inning errors to go ahead, pushed across runs after lead-off hits in the fifth and sixth innings, then finished the triumph with Kyler Del Duca’s seventh-inning homer.
Juarez (15-3) finished with a five-hit shutout, maneuvering through the bottom of the seventh following Zariah Billinger’s two-out single up the middle and freshman junior varsity call-up Cali Siguenza’s fluttering single over third base to post her fifth shutout this year.
“They played great defense, their pitcher pitched great. It was one of those games,” Huntington Beach coach Jeff Forsberg said. “The most prolific offensive team we’ve had in the school history here. We’ve been on a clip. And I always tell the girls, ‘Hey, good pitching beats good hitting.’ And it happens, right?”
The Oilers came in averaging 10.6 runs over their past nine outings and with a collective season batting average above .410 — captains Tea Gutierrez and Cali Bennett over .500 — but generated no hits, reaching base only on an error and a hit batter, from the second inning until the sixth.
“We couldn’t make adjustments [against Juarez] in time,” Gutierrez said. “They were able to pass the bats, and we just couldn’t come together as a family. ... This was a family bond that we had, so it’s definitely a harsh feeling. But I’m so grateful for my sisters.”
The Oilers, who split tournament games with Chino Hills (21-8) earlier this season, twice put two runners on base. They stranded both in scoring position in the first, after Bennett’s leadoff and Gutierrez’s one-out singles and Bree Carlson’s ground out to second. Bennett, battling shin splints, reached on a one-out error in the third, went to second when Juarez plunked Maleah Humble, then was doubled up when Chino Hills third baseman Lyla Gonzalez caught her off the bag on a pop out.
Humble singled with one out in the sixth — after Bennett’s drive to deep left-center was snared by a streaking Del Duca, the Huskies’ center fielder — and the inning was over three pitches later.
“We had a lot of balls off the end of the bat,” Forsberg said. “And then balls that we did hit, they made plays.”
Chino Hills coach Richard Gaither, whose team will play Wednesday at Norco (26-3), a 13-1 winner over Westlake Village Oaks Christian, said there was “something special about this team, and it starts with Nadia. Nadia is going to carry us, and we’re going to ride her.”
The Baseline League co-champions’ lead-off hitters reached base four times against freshman right-hander Juliette Foutz (14-2), and three of them made it home.
Leilani Allen’s two-out single past Billinger, the Oilers’ diving second baseman, scored Brett Lambrecht after successive infield errors started the second inning. Allen singled to start the fifth, was bunted to second, and made it 2-0 on Sophia Tice’s beat-the-throw single. Lambrecht doubled in the sixth, took third on a foul pop out to first, and came home on Jocelyn Garcia’s sacrifice fly. Del Duca’s homer to left-center in the seventh was her ninth of the year.
Forsberg was confident going to the bottom of the seventh.
“This was the first time I went into a CIF game where I felt we were going to come back [in the final inning] and win,” he said. “This group has amazed me so much that we had a chance. We were going to win, 5-4. I’ve never felt that before. Before I was like, ‘Oh, we’re done.’
“When [Del Duca homered, in the past it would be] like, ‘You’re done.’ This time, you know, it was, ‘It’s all right, we’ll just score four runs. It didn’t work out.”
Forsberg, who has won 310 games since taking charge of Huntington Beach’s program in 2006 after two years as assistant to Rachel Vandiver, called this season “phenomenal.”
The Oilers, fueled by an attack that hit double-digits in 13 of 30 games, opened the season with seven straight victories and winning their last nine league games following back-to-back losses in late April to Los Alamitos and Fountain Valley to share the Sunset League title — their seventh, five under Forsberg.
“It was the best season we’ve ever had. Best season we’ve ever had, by far,” he said. “We scored the most runs. We scored the most hits. And we had no expectations. I mean, zero. I was thinking we go 5-21, I’d be content. Seriously, I had no expectations.
“We had no pitching. We had no idea who we had as pitchers. So we were like, ‘Well, let’s just see what happens.’ And then we kind of got on a roll. ... [Our chemistry was the] best ever. Kids got along. No drama. Kids know their roles. It was a special team.
“But you know what, we have a special program here. So it’s rinse and repeat. So we’ll do it again and try next year.”
Also in the CIF Southern Section softball playoffs:
Marina 7, San Clemente 0: Mia Valbuena recorded nine strikeouts in a two-hit shutout for the host Vikings on Saturday in the second round of the Division 3 playoffs.
Valbuena also delivered a pair of doubles and drove in two runs at the plate for Marina (16-13), which plays at Santa Fe Springs St. Paul (14-14) in the quarterfinals on Wednesday.
Rachel Ruiz added a double and two runs batted in for the Vikings.
Culver City 13, Los Amigos 3: The Lobos’ season ended with a road loss in the second round of the Division 7 playoffs on Monday.
Maria Castillo, Andrea Contreras and Sophia Gutierrez each had a hit and a run batted in for Los Amigos (16-7), which was the third-place team in the Coast League this season.
Staff writer Andrew Turner contributed to this report.
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