Softball: CdM busts streak against rival NHHS

If you believe in poetic justice, it was perhaps fitting that Corona del Mar High senior Sydney McKeown crossed the plate with the winning run in Tuesday’s Battle of the Bay softball game.

It has been McKeown who has been in the program for four years, seeing it inch better and better. It has been McKeown who has shouldered the pitching load for the Sea Kings, despite no longer doing so for her travel-ball team.

And, it has been McKeown who wanted a Battle of the Bay win her senior year perhaps the most of all.

So, after eight innings, it was McKeown who deserved to get a little emotional after the Sea Kings rallied for a 9-8 victory over Newport Harbor at CdM, their first Battle of the Bay victory in eight years.

“It’s so exciting that senior year we could finally pull it out,” said the Ole Miss-bound McKeown, fighting back tears after the game. “We’ve been trying to do this for four years now, and this year, it’s a cliche, but I really had a feeling that our team could do it. Every inning, I was trying to push everyone, like, ‘Oh they only scored one, they only scored two, we can get that back.’ And we did. It was just an amazing feeling. I never thought it would happen until a couple of days ago, and I just had a feeling.”

Corona del Mar (3-0) had Newport Harbor (0-3) down to its final out in the top of the seventh inning, but an infield error — one of five errors by the Sea Kings in the game — allowed the Sailors’ Diana Surber to score the tying run. Later, Haley Martinez would score on a passed ball, giving the visitors a 7-6 advantage.

CdM would tie it in the bottom of the frame. Sophomore Brooke Franson, who was a home run short of the cycle, led off the inning by being hit by the pitch. She stole second base. Newport Harbor sophomore starting pitcher Samantha Del Toro would rebound to strike out the side, but not before Franson would score on successive passed balls.

“I think that kind of just shows how our team reacts,” said CdM Coach Carly Smith, whose Sea Kings also scored five runs in the bottom of the third after falling behind 4-1. “It was, ‘OK, we messed up, that’s all right, we’re going to come back another inning and bring it to them.’ We never gave up. That’s what I absolutely love about our team. We have each other’s backs. We play for our teammates; we don’t just play for ourselves.”

With the score tied at 7-7 after seven innings, the international tiebreaker rule came into play. Each team would start the eighth inning with a runner on second base.

Newport Harbor plated one run in the top of the eighth, as Skialar Carter’s single scored Alyssa Felix. But McKeown got two outs — the first coming on a nice grab of a foul out by CdM freshman catcher Maddie Tumbarello — to get out of the jam.

Again, CdM would rally with its back against the wall. Samantha Mather started the bottom of the eighth on second base, and stole third. An out later, Bailey Harrison would then reach first on obstruction by the catcher, allowing Mather to score and tie the score again at 8-8.

After McKeown grounded into a fielder’s choice, CdM had a runner on first with two outs. But McKeown would steal second and get to third on a passed ball.

Lauren Oberreiter then hit a slow roller up the third-base line. The throw to first was low, and the first baseman couldn’t quite dig it out as McKeown scored the winning run.

“I was definitely trying to get the girls all pumped up for the past couple of days,” McKeown said. “We had heard some stuff about Harbor, that we could maybe do it this year. I was just trying to get everybody to believe it themselves. It worked.”

McKeown went the full eight innings, allowing three earned runs and nine hits. She walked three and struck out 10.

Del Toro also went the whole way for Newport Harbor, walking just two while striking out 12. In three different innings, she struck out the side.

“These kids have played together in the community and rec ball for their whole softball careers, and this is a big game, Battle of the Bay,” first-year Newport Harbor Coach Mike Hunter said. “It comes down to the last inning, and we tied and we went ahead. They come back and they tie, and then in the international tiebreaker a couple of funky things happen. But hey, I’m extremely proud of the way my girls played, and a lot of credit to Carly. She’s really brought those kids a long way. It’s a great start for their program.”

McKeown was two for five for the Sea Kings, while Tumbarello had a double. Franson finished three for three with four RBIs, including a bases-clearing triple in the third inning. Jordan Calvin had an RBI single for the winners.

Surber was three for five to lead the Sailors, while Martinez and Ashley McNerney also had hits.

The win was definitely sweet for McKeown.

“She did a great job,” Smith said. “What’s awesome about it is that she wanted it so bad, every inning. Her senior year, and she’s never won Battle of the Bay.”

Nobody can say that anymore.