SOUTHERN SECTION SOFTBALL PLAYOFFS : Katella Blanks Huntington Beach

HUNTINGTON BEACH —  Solid defense and an early run that grew bigger with every inning carried Katella to a 2-0 victory over Huntington Beach in the quarterfinals of the Southern Section 5-A softball playoffs Thursday at Huntington Beach.

The Knights (17-6), seeded fourth in the division, move to the semifinals Tuesday against top-seeded Camarillo. Huntington Beach finished 14-12.

The Knights eliminated Kennedy in the first round. The Fighting Irish were the top-ranked team in the county most of the season. Katella, the Empire League champion, used unearned runs in the first and sixth innings to knock the Oilers out of the playoffs.

Tammy Lohmann, whose .541 batting average is the best in the county, led off the game with an infield single. She then stole second and went to third when catcher Danielle Bowman’s throw went into center field. Tonya Armbruster drove in Lohmann with a slap single inside third base. Oiler right-hander Stephanie Noffsinger (10-9) then retired the next three batters.

Armbruster also had a hand in Katella’s second run. With one out in the sixth, she bunted and reached safely when Oiler second baseman Renee Sanchez dropped the throw from Bowman at first. Melissa Benbow followed with a single to center that sent Armbruster to third and she scored on a sacrifice fly by Lisa Helg.

The Oilers had their fair share of opportunities but could not capitalize against the Katella defense, which supported sophomore right-hander Kelsi Armbruster (11-2) well.

Huntington Beach had runners in scoring position four times but could not get them across the plate. One of the Oilers’ best chances came in the first inning, when their first two batters bunted for hits, but a force play and a double play killed the threat.

Huntington Beach seemed poised to tie it, 1-1, in the fifth after Laura Minard opened the inning with a single to right and Sanchez was hit by a pitch. Shelley Nelson struck out but Bowman loaded the bases with a bunt hit. However, Noffsinger forced Minard at home on a grounder to third and Shanen Kreipl struck out to end the inning.

Katella Coach Rhonda Weyer knew who to credit for the victory.

“We played great defense in the early part of the game when they had runners in scoring position,” she said.