Pacifica’s Micheala Meza, right, avoids the tag by Cypress catcher Naya Taylor to score a run in an Empire League softball game in Garden Grove on Thursday, April 11, 2024. (Photo by Paul Rodriguez, Contributing Photographer)
GARDEN GROVE — The Pacifica and Cypress softball teams have gone into the CIF Southern Section playoffs as co-league champions in recent years.
But after Pacifica’s 7-0 Empire League victory over the Centurions on Thursday at Pacifica High School, the Mariners made it clear that they want to capture the league title outright.
The Mariners (18-2, 6-0), who are ranked No. 2 in Orange County, collected 13 hits, including three for extra bases, and got a fine outing from starting pitcher Brynne Nally, who allowed two hits, no walks and had nine strikeouts over six innings.
None of the Centurions (14-9, 4-2) who did reach base got past first base.
The game kicked off the second round of league play for both teams.
The Mariners’ remaining league games are against Valencia, Crean Lutheran, Tustin and Kennedy, teams Pacifica defeated by a combined score of 51-1 in the first round of league play.
“I have a group of seniors who’ve been together four years and a lot of them been on varsity,” Pacifica coach Tony Arduino said. “I said we have yet to have an outright league championship. So that was definitely the goal coming in. No more shared league titles. Let’s take care of business.”
No. 17 Cypress finishes the regular season against Tustin, Valencia, Kennedy and Crean Lutheran, teams that the Centurions also defeated fairly easily.
The first five hitters in Pacifica’s lineup combined for 11 hits and accounted for all of the Mariners’ runs.
Cleanup hitter Delaina Maae went 3 for 3 with two RBIs and a run scored.
Maae singled home No. 2 hitter Micheala Meza in the third inning to give the Mariners a 1-0 lead.
Maae then singled in No. 3 hitter Kaniya Bragg in a five-run fifth inning, right after Bragg hit a two-RBI double that scored Mattea Stern and Meza.
Annika Sogsti then capped the big inning with a two-run home run that scored Maae.
“I had gone 0 for 2 and I was a like, I’ve got to lock in and make my adjustments,” Sogsti said. “The first swing I was a little under it and then something just clicked in my brain and I just was like, I’m just going to swing as hard as I can at this pitch. if I get this next pitch and it’s there, I’m hitting it as hard as I can.”
The Mariners’ only two losses this season, to No. 3 Canyon and No. 1 Orange Lutheran, came in back-to-back games in the Michelle Carew Classic.
Looking back, Maae, Sogsti and Arduino all agreed that the two losses might have helped relax the team since the Mariners were putting too much pressure on themselves to stay undefeated prior to the game against the Comanches.
“After the two losses, actually, we felt more comfortable,” Maae said. “I think we turned the page after that, but we bounced back right away because that’s just Pacifica, honestly.”
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