Oilers blank Mesa in title showdown

Chris Yemma

Despite a loss to close the day, the Costa Mesa High softball team

took away some valuable information from its own tournament.

The Mustangs lost in the championship game to Huntington Beach,

3-0, at TeWinkle Park Saturday, but defeated Santa Ana, 8-0, in the

semifinals to advance to the title game.

Santa Ana (4-1), the defending Golden West League champion, was

supposed to be a favorite to earn a second straight league title this

year. But Costa Mesa (3-3) shed some light on what could occur when

the league race begins March 23.

“I was excited,” Mustangs’ Coach Sharon Uhl said. “Getting past

Santa Ana was a tough one. And after we got past that one, we knew

[Huntington Beach] was going to be tough because we were watching

them last week and they were just crushing the ball over the fence.”

Costa Mesa progressed the furthest of the three local teams

competing in the tournament. Estancia finished eighth and Sage Hill

forfeited its two games Saturday.

The Mustangs received a little help from senior starting pitcher

Tiffany Campos, who worked 14 total innings Saturday. She pitched a

two-hitter against Santa Ana, with four strikeouts and one walk. She

allowed two earned runs and six hits with one strikeout against

Huntington Beach (4-2).

Campos was also 1 for 4 from the plate with an RBI in the first

game and 1 for 3 in the second. Both Campos and senior Brittany

McAleer were named to the all-tournament team.

McAleer nailed a two-run home run against Santa Ana while going 1

for 3 against the Oilers.

Campos bats after McAleer in the lineup, which provides

back-to-back punches for the Mustangs. Huntington intentionally

walked McAleer in the third inning Saturday, but typically when teams

do that, Uhl said, they must not know about Campos.

It didn’t pan out this time for Mesa, though. Campos lined out to

right field to close the inning, ending the Mustangs’ closest chance

of breaking the 0-0 tie. And the Oilers scored the go-ahead run in

the fourth inning.

“For Huntington Beach, this is a big deal,” Oilers’ Coach Dan Hay

said. “We’re a program that has had quite a few losing seasons the

last five years. But we have a new group of girls and a new coaching

staff, so this is a great confidence boost for Huntington, no doubt

about it.”

The Oilers came out in the fifth inning and scored two insurance

runs, one on a Mesa error and the other on an RBI double by junior

Mallory Smith.

Huntington pitcher Staphani Newton went the distance, allowing six

hits with four strikeouts to earn the win. Newton was also named to

the all-tournament team, as she helped the Oilers go 4-0 in the

tournament.

The Mustangs, gained confidence with the shutout win over Santa

Ana.

The victory should create even more optimism about their ability

to make a run at a league title.

“That’s our [league] competition right there,” Uhl said. “We

played them tough and we scored first with their best players out

there.”

Costa Mesa tournament

Championship

Huntington Beach 3,

Costa Mesa 0

Score by Innings

*--*

HB 0 0 0 1 2 0 0 - 3 6 0

Mesa 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 - 0 6 1

*--*

Newton and Rojas; Campos and Pulaski. W -- Newton. L -- Campos. 2B

-- Davis (HB), Smith (HB).