High School Softball: Eagles bow out

GARDEN GROVE — Coming into the season, Estancia High softball Coach Carrie Lester didn’t quite know what to expect.

The Eagles lost three of four infielders, as well as their pitcher and catcher, to graduation. Calling this year’s team young would be a bit of an understatement, with an all-freshman battery of pitcher Brittany Walker and catcher Kalena Shepherd.

But Estancia equaled last year’s success, finishing third in the Orange Coast League and advancing to the first round of the CIF Southern Section Division 5 playoffs. Before last year, Estancia hadn’t made the first round since 2008.

So, though the Eagles’ season ended as they fell to No. 3-seeded Garden Grove, 7-0, in a first-round game Thursday at Lake Intermediate School, Lester had to be proud of the effort. Her team had to win a play-in game against rival Costa Mesa last week, as well as Tuesday’s 13-11 wild-card victory at Templeton, just to make it to this point.

“I really thought it was going to be more of a struggle this year,” Lester said. “The fact that we made first round of CIF, I’m so very impressed with how hard my girls worked together like a team. They worked together as a team to get that far.”

Estancia (15-10) actually hung with Garden Grove (17-11), the Garden Grove League champion, for much of the game. The hosts loaded the bases in both of the first two innings, but came away empty each time.

Senior third baseman Gianna Guyot saved the Eagles in the bottom of the first, after three Argonauts were hit by a pitch to load the bases with one out. Guyot caught Meredith Miller’s line drive to her and doubling the runner off third base. In the second, Garden Grove again loaded the bases with one out, but Walker caught a lineout for the second out then got a swinging strikeout for the third.

“We came in knowing it was going to be a rough game, but I feel like in the first three innings we were there,” said Estancia senior first baseman Karina Camarena, a co-captain along with junior shortstop Felicia Rios. “We were all fighting, wanting it.”

But Estancia found it hard to hit Garden Grove senior pitcher Celeste Villagrana, who was throwing gas. Lester said that Villagrana, who threw six shutout innings, allowing three hits and two walks and striking out 12, was the hardest-throwing pitcher the Eagles have seen this year. She gave way in the seventh to freshman Olivia Candelas, who had a one-two-three inning to end the game.

The Howard College-bound Villagrana improved to 12-6 this year, with a 2.76 earned-run average and 125 strikeouts in 96 2/3 innings.

“It’s tough, because they’ve never seen it and we haven’t practiced it,” Lester said. “We have a batting cage; I’m going to have to crank that up I guess.”

Rios, Nefertiti Van Den Heever and Maya Van Den Heever got the hits for Estancia, while Camarena and Shepherd drew the walks.

Garden Grove first got on the board in the third. Elana Abe led off with a bunt single, then Villagrana reached on an infield error. The second infield error of the inning, on a grounder off the third baseman’s glove, allowed Villagrana to score with two outs.

The Argonauts added two more unearned runs in the fourth. With runners at the corners and no outs, Kaitlynn Williams hit a grounder back to the pitcher. The throw to first was late, allowing Alexis Christian to score. Williams then got caught in a rundown between first and second, but that allowed the second run to also score.

Garden Grove added three more runs in the fifth inning, two of those unearned as well. Walker allowed just two earned runs and nine hits (all singles) in the game, walking five and striking out three.

Garden Grove will play St. Monica Catholic, an 11-0 winner over La Puente, in the second round on Tuesday. For Estancia, the future appears bright, though the Eagles will miss seniors Camarena, Guyot and Lesly Gomez.

“I think that having a freshman for a pitcher and a catcher will definitely be a great thing for this team overall in the long run,” Camarena said. “They are just barely starting their high school career, and they’re out here at CIF. I feel like with the practice and the years, they’re going to rock it.”

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CIF Southern Section Division 5 playoffs

First round

Garden Grove 7, Estancia 0

SCORE BY INNINGS

Estancia 000 000 0 – 0 3 4

Garden Grove 001 231 x – 7 9 0

Walker and Shepherd; Villagrana, O. Candelas (7) and Miller. W – Villagrana, 12-6. L – Walker.