High School Softball: Mesa blasts Saddleback

SANTA ANA — It has been a breakthrough season so far for the Costa Mesa High softball team.

Last week the Mustangs beat cross-town rival Estancia, 7-6, breaking a 10-game losing streak against the Eagles. Costa Mesa, which managed just two league wins each of the last two seasons, now has five in 2015.

Costa Mesa should find out later this week if it can take the next step, making the postseason for the first time in four years.

The Mustangs won at Saddleback, 24-7 in five innings, in Tuesday’s Orange Coast League game. The win, combined with Estancia’s 12-5 loss to Godinez, moved Costa Mesa into sole possession of third place in league with one game remaining.

The top three teams in the league are guaranteed CIF Southern Section Division 5 playoff berths. Costa Mesa (8-12, 5-4 in league) and Estancia (12-9, 4-5) still expect to finish tied for third in league, and it has to do with the final opponent for each team on Wednesday.

The league finales were moved up a day due to rain in Thursday’s forecast. Costa Mesa plays host to first-place Calvary Chapel, while Estancia plays at fifth-place Saddleback. If the teams do indeed finish tied for third in league at 5-5, Costa Mesa Coach Heather Orduna said the Mustangs and Eagles would play a tiebreaker game Friday at Costa Mesa High.

The Mustangs won the coin flip to host the tiebreaker game. They would need to win to make the CIF playoffs, since they aren’t eligible for a possible at-large berth with an overall record under .500.

Plans for a tiebreaker game Friday seem tentative, since rain is also in the forecast for Friday.

“Saturday’s an option, but past that I don’t know, because CIF starts next week,” Orduna said. “We have to be ready to start.”

Orduna is ready to try to lead the Mustangs to the playoffs for the first time in her three-year tenure. Another win against Estancia would do the trick.

“We’ve been a growing team since I came, and this year has kind of been the culmination of a lot of hard work and dedication,” she said. “I would say the drive for CIF really became a reality last week, when we were able to pull that win against Estancia.”

The football score against Saddleback worked for Costa Mesa. Saddleback (3-15, 2-7) actually took the lead briefly in the bottom of the first inning, when Victoria Lopez hit a two-run home run to left field to give the Roadrunners a 2-1 advantage. Tatiana Rojas also hit a two-run homer for Saddleback in the bottom of the third.

By then, though, Costa Mesa had a 12-2 lead. The Mustangs took the lead for good by scoring four runs in the top of the second. Freshman Paige Fisher led off with an infield single, and senior co-captain Zaira Lopez followed with a walk. An out later, Fisher scored on a wild pitch.

Freshman Haley Sheffner also walked, before sophomore Brenna Alvis was hit by a pitch to load the bases. Junior co-captain Anessa Farldow cleared them with a single to center, giving the Mustangs a 5-2 lead that they wouldn’t relinquish.

“We started off rocky, but we came back,” said Farldow, who also had a two-run double to left in the third and finished with four runs batted in. “It took us a minute to realize that we need to play hard and work hard. Once we started hitting, that’s what brought our fire.”

Costa Mesa scored seven runs in the third inning and 12 in the fifth, giving the visitors a 24-6 lead. Saddleback answered with a run in the bottom of the inning, but Costa Mesa senior pitcher Ariana Morales induced a popout to get out of a bases-loaded jam and end the game.

Fisher, who stood out defensively at Farldow’s usual position of catcher with Farldow a bit under the weather, finished three for four with a pair of doubles and four RBIs. Junior Haylee Jack was three for five with a double and four RBIs, and Alvis was two for two with two walks and two stolen bases.

Junior co-captain Jasmine Herrera was three for five with a double for Costa Mesa. Lopez was two for two with a two-run double and three walks, while junior Kanani Asuega also had a hit and a pair of RBIs.

“The girls are putting in their hard work and really working on all their skills five days a week,” Orduna said. “They want it. They’ve got the heart; they’ve got the drive ... Getting girls that have travel-ball experience [like Sheffner, Alvis and sophomore second baseman Kintak Keju] has been helping.”

Farldow said she looks forward to a possible rubber match against Estancia on Friday, with a CIF playoff spot on the line.

“We’re hungry,” she said. “We want it again. We’re ready. I don’t even have words to explain [what making the playoffs would mean]. It would mean a lot, to do it for our seniors.”