Ex-Marina duo helps Cypress earn state softball crown

With the California Community College Athletic Assn. softball championship on the line Sunday, Emma Walker exemplified the attitude of her entire Cypress College team.

“She didn’t hesitate,” Cypress coach Brad Pickler said of the sophomore right fielder out of Marina High, who scored from second on a groundout in the bottom of the seventh inning to cap a 1-0 walk-off victory over Mount San Antonio in the final on Saturday at Bakersfield College. “She saw an opportunity and she just went for it.”

Walker singled with one out to begin the rally and advanced to second on a walk. When the next hitter hit a swinging bunt up along first, the Mt. SAC catcher sprung from behind the plate to field it and throw the hitter out at first. But with home plate uncovered, Walker bolted past Pickler, who was coaching third, and slid safely home without a play.

Walker hit .407 with five home runs, 27 RBIs, nine stolen bases and an OPS of 1.132 for the Chargers, who became the first unbeaten state champion and gave Cypress nine state crowns under Pickler.

Another former Marina High standout, Sydney McCollom, earned Orange Empire Conference Player of the Year honors as a freshman this spring. McCollum hit .432 with one homer, 49 RBIs, 28 steals, 19 doubles and 53 runs. A shortstop, she was earned the Gold Glove award at the state tournament, given to the top defensive player.

McCollom was five for 10 in three state tournament games with three runs and two RBIs.

Walker was five for nine with two RBIs and two runs in Bakersfield and was on the all-tournament team.

Pickler, whose 2009 team opened the season 36-0 before losing, which was the program’s longest winning streak prior to this season, said he did not have perfection in mind when the year began.

“You go 10-0 and you think you are going to lose,” Pickler said. “Then you go 20-0 and you think something [bad] is going to happen. Then you go 30-0 and you think ‘Holy Moly,’ this is going to be something special.

“We had a few games that we probably should have lost that we won,” Pickler said. “I wanted them to lose a game, because I did not want to go to the state tournament and have them find out what it was like to lose there. But after we got to 25-0, then 30-0, I said, you know what? ‘Let’s go for it.’ And [the players] bought into it.”

Walker, who is being recruited by Cal State Bakersfield and Colorado Christian, has a high softball IQ, Pickler said. Her father, Geoff Walker, is an assistant coach at Marina, where former Cypress player Mandee Farish is the head coach.

“[Scoring from second] was just a great play,” Pickler said. “Every once in awhile in a softball game, you have to seize the moment and she seized it. I wish I could have said I was the one who sent her home, but she ran by me fast and I just yelled ‘Go!’ It was just a heads-up play.”

Pickler said a heads-up from one of his former players, helped them add McCollom days before school started in August.

“She was a real pleasant surprise for us,” Pickler said. “We didn’t even know who she was until a week before schools started. I got a text from a former player telling me she had surfaced, after coming back from St. John’s, which gave her a full ride out of Marina.

McCollom, whose mother Liberty McCollom is the softball coach at Ocean View High, was sidelined by an injury as a Marina senior. She missed the 2016 season at St. John’s with the same injury and Pickler talked her into knocking off her two-year rust with the Chargers.

“What a season [McCollom] had,” Pickler said. “She was a huge part of us winning the state championship and going undefeated. She’s going to stay and play another year for us.”

Keston while you can

UC Irvine junior Keston Hiura will conclude his illustrious career with the Anteaters on Saturday. His final series, at home against UC Davis, began Thursday.

Those wishing to see the greatest hitter in school history, might want to catch him this weekend (Friday at 6:30 p.m. and Saturday at 1 p.m.), as he is projected to go early in the first round of the MLB draft in June.

After going four for six in a 12-4 win over UCLA on Tuesday, Hiura entered Thursday batting .419 (second in the nation) and leading the nation with a .556 on-base percentage. He is slugging .672.

If he gets at least two hits in his final 12 at-bats, he will finish at .404 and break the school single-season mark of .403 set by Tom Spence in 1971.

Hiura needs one double to tie the career mark of 52 held by Jeff Cusick, and he needs two walks to tie Brady Anderson’s single-season record of 52 set in 1988.

Hiura is also chasing the UCI single-season slugging percentage record of .673 set by Ken Washington and is three homers behind Francis Larson’s school-career record of 25.

Mariners’ milestones

A pair of locals had firsts last week for the Seattle Mariners.

Former Orange Coast College outfielder Boog Powell had his first major-league hit on May 16, driving in a run with a pinch-hit single.

One day later, UCI product Christian Bergman earned his first win of the season, pitching 7 1/3 shutout innings. He struck out nine and allowed just two hits.

Grant in aid

OCC baseball missed out on the four-team state tournament in Fresno, when El Camino rallied after a Friday defeat to claim hard-fought victories Saturday and Sunday to win the best-of-three Sectional playoff series at OCC.

Among those celebrating with the Warriors was first-year assistant coach Grant Palmer, a former UCI player who coached first base for El Camino.

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Twitter: @BarryFaulkner5