High School Softball: Estancia hangs on against Mesa
Players from the Costa Mesa and Estancia High softball teams danced around in their respective dugouts before Thursday’s Orange Coast League game, singing along to the Justin Bieber song “Baby.”
Junior Maya Van Den Heever led the singing for Estancia. But she wasn’t singing anymore in the top of the fourth inning, when the Mustangs scored four runs to tie the score.
“I was really nervous,” Van Den Heever said after the game. “But we kept hitting.”
The game’s intensity lived up to the Battle for the Bell label, as the bell itself sat behind home plate. It was just slightly down the third-base line for host Estancia, which has owned it in recent years.
The Eagles are halfway to keeping it after claiming a hard-fought 10-6 victory.
“You know, it’s that cross-town rivalry,” Estancia Coach Carrie Lester said. “The players come to win. They were the adversary, for sure.”
Estancia (9-5, 1-1 in league) needed the win after losing to defending league champion Calvary Chapel, 16-3, on Tuesday. The Mustangs (4-9, 1-1) came into Thursday’s game with momentum after blasting Laguna Beach, 20-5, in their league opener.
Estancia ended up earning its 10th straight win against Costa Mesa, and seventh straight in league. But it definitely wasn’t easy, even after the Eagles put six runs on the board in the bottom of the second inning.
The Eagles sent 11 players to the plate in the frame. Senior Gianna Guyot and junior Felicia Rios each had two-run doubles, and Van Den Heever followed with an RBI single that put her team up, 6-1.
The inning ended with a highlight play by Mesa shortstop Brenna Alvis, who dove to her left to snag a ball, crawled to second and touched the bag with her glove to record the force out.
“That started it,” Costa Mesa Coach Heather Orduna said. “As soon as they came in, I told the girls, ‘As she crawled to second base, we’ve got to crawl our way back in this game.’”
The Mustangs tied the score with their big fourth inning. Haylee Jack and Alvis legged out infield singles, and Mesa put together a two-out rally. Junior first baseman Jasmine Herrera followed Alvis’ at-bat with a great one of her own, fouling off several pitches before drawing a full-count walk to load the bases.
Junior catcher Anessa Farldow scored two runs with her bloop single to right, and freshman Paige Fisher followed with a two-run triple to right-center to tie the score at 6-6.
“We’ve been waiting all year for that hit,” said Orduna of Fisher, who finished three for four with a game-high four RBIs. “All her hard work paid off.”
But Estancia took the lead again in the bottom of the frame, as Rios (three for four) hit a one-out triple to center and scored on a bad pickoff attempt. The Eagles added three more runs in the bottom of the fifth, scored by Isabelle Morales, Lesly Gomez and Guyot.
Mesa tried one last time to rally. The Mustangs led off the top of the seventh as Kanani Asuega and Jack drew walks. Estancia freshman catcher Kalena Shepard went out to talk to freshman pitcher Brittany Walker, who struck out four and walked four in her complete-game effort.
“We believe in her,” Lester said. “I’ll keep them both for the next four years, if I can. They both have huge potential.”
Walker settled down, inducing a groundout to third. On the play, the Mesa baserunner at first dove back to first base before mistakenly taking off for second, where she was easily tagged out.
“It was a coaching mistake,” Orduna said. “We as a coaching staff have to own those. She didn’t know, and she got confused and freaked out a little bit. We don’t work on those kind of plays a whole lot ... unfortunately, it was the seventh inning.”
Walker then got the last out on a line out to Van Den Heever in center.
Kintak Keju, pitcher Ariana Morales and Asuega added hits for the Mustangs, as did Sam Wagner, Morales (bunt single) and Nefertiti Van Den Heever for Estancia.
The teams will rematch in their second league game May 5 at Costa Mesa. Estancia next plays at home Tuesday against Laguna Beach, while Mesa is at Godinez on Monday.
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Orange Coast League
Estancia 10, Costa Mesa 6
SCORE BY INNINGS
Costa Mesa 101 400 0 — 6 11 4
Estancia 060 130 x — 10 13 2
Morales and Farldow; Walker and Shepard. W – Walker. L – Morales. 2B – Farldow (CM), Guyot (E), Rios (E). 3B – Fisher (CM), Rios (E).
