Softball: Mesa clinches at least a tie for third place in PCL

Richard Dunn

COSTA MESA - The excitement and energy of the postseason has

already filled the air for Costa Mesa High’s softball team.

With one game remaining in the Pacific Coast League, the Mustangs

clinched at least a tie for third place Monday with a 6-3 victory over

visiting Laguna Beach at TeWinkle Park as senior pitcher Brooke Shanley

yielded no earned runs in a route-going effort.

Costa Mesa (8-11, 5-4 in PCL), vying for its first CIF Southern Section

softball playoff berth in four years, will square off Wednesday against

Corona del Mar. A Mesa victory would lock up third place and the league’s

final guaranteed playoff spot, while a CdM win would force a one-game

playoff Friday.

“The bottom line is, we have to control our own destiny,” said Mustangs

Coach Sharon Uhl, whose squad snapped a 2-2 tie with four runs in the

fourth inning against the Artists (8-13, 2-7).

Costa Mesa shortstop and leadoff hitter Kelly Daub and Mustang left

fielder Fernanda Velasco each had two hits for the winners, while six

different players scored runs in support of Shanley, who tossed a

four-hitter and worked out of three jams, including the last inning when

Laguna Beach rallied with two outs.

“They’re never easy,” Uhl said of PCL wins. “I never relax until the last

out is made in the last inning. Every team is capable of scoring runs.”

The Artists put the tying run on base in the seventh, but Shanley struck

out Heather O’Malley looking with the bases loaded. Shanley punched out

four, walked four and hit two batters.

“When (Shanley) keeps her head in the game and doesn’t let the other team

get to her, she does a lot better,” Uhl said. “She’s a senior, so she can

control her emotions a little better.”

Mesa, which broke a three-game losing streak, went ahead with four runs

in the fourth, ignited by a Velasco single. Kaite Chapman followed with a

single, then Sarah Watkins reached on an error, scoring Velasco from

second base for the go-ahead run.

In the inning, Britney Newby followed with an RBI single to center, then

an out later, Daub scored Watkins with a bunt single. Mesa’s Lacey Ferris

put down a bunt for a safety squeeze, allowing Newby to score from third

base and give the hosts a 6-2 lead.

“The key to our game today was on our bunts,” Uhl said. “Usually we have

problems with that. We tend to pop them up, to miss them. But as a team

we bunted well today.”

Velasco had an RBI single in the second inning, scoring Michelle Nguyen,

and Shanley added a run-scoring single to center in the third.

PACIFIC COAST LEAGUE

Costa Mesa 6, Laguna Beach 3

Laguna Beach 000 200 1 - 3 4 1

Costa Mesa 011 400 x - 6 8 4

Davidson and Offield; Shanley and Watkins. W - Shanley, 7-7. L -

Davidson.