Gahr softball upsets Orange Lutheran in CIFSS Division 1 quarterfinals with late heroics

SANTA ANA– Officially one of the hottest softball teams in SoCal and still rising quickly, Gahr continued its winning streak and eye-opening playoff run with a 7-3 win at Orange Lutheran on Thursday.

The Gladiators struck first against the perennial Southern Section power, showing aggression in the top of the first inning before either team had settled in. Leadoff batter Marley Cortez walked and made it to third on a good sacrifice bunt by Mikala Huskey, who reached base on an error. With one out two batters later, Cortez scored and Huskey advanced to second on a wild pitch, and Amanda Taamu grounded out but advanced Huskey to third. Huskey scored with two outs on another wild pitch, which may have been ruled as a pass ball instead. Even though one or both of the runs were unearned, Gahr had already put up more runs on OLu ace Brianne Weiss than Villa Park got against Weiss and the Lancers in nine innings their previous time out.

However, Orange Lutheran – which had handed the Gladiators a 4-1 loss in their season opener – had no intention of falling into a hole. Kai Minor appeared to start off the inning with a strikeout, but the umpire ruled that pitcher Jordan Cathey had committed some sort of illegal pitch infraction. The call nullified the strikeout, and Minor subsequently walked. Kiki Estrada got hit by a pitch, and with Tessa Jerue up, Minor and Estrada pulled off a successful double-steal. Jerue hit a base knock to left field to drive in Minor, but Lulu Sanchez gunned Estrada down at the plate to keep Gahr's lead at 2-1. The Gladiators nearly exited the inning with their lead intact, but Makayla Motis reached on an error and drove in Jerue before they could end the inning.

OLu took its only lead of the night an inning later when Zoelle Gummeson hit a single and eventually got walked in.

But Gahr quickly erased the deficit, as Hayley Olivas doubled and was driven in by a Cortez hit to tie the game at 3-3. Cortez, who received "MVP" chants numerous times throughout the game, had already been a part of two of Gahr's three runs going into the bottom of the third, and then she took over in the circle as well. 

Cortez breezed through her first four innings of work, with her devastating changeup getting better and better throughout the night. She was helped greatly by running catches in the outfield by RF Sophia Magcale and CF Natalia Hill which both saved doubles, coming in the fifth and sixth innings, respectively. But Cortez was in control of the game – as was Weiss, who found her groove after the challenging first two innings.

That was still the case heading into the seventh inning with the score still at 3-3, and then both pitchers would find themselves in some hot water.

The Gladiators finally broke all the way through against Weiss when Larissa Flores opened the frame with a walk and stole second before Huskey drove her in with a single. Olivas got hit by a pitch, Taamu drove in Huskey and got Olivas to third with a double, and then Cortez drove in Olivas on a sacrifice fly to make it 6-3. Finally, Hill walked and stole both second and third before stealing home to make it 7-3, at which point three of Gahr's seven runs had been scored via wild pitch or pass ball.

It seemed like the Lancers were dead in the water, but they had no plans of going away. On a pair of bang-bang plays, Gummeson notched an infield single, and thereafter made it to second on a slightly errant throw from Cortez who had fielded a comebacker. Estrada drilled a single to load the bases, and suddenly the tying run was at the plate with zero outs and the heart of the order up.

But Cortez got her two-ball after all. Olivas fielded a ground ball at third and went home with it, and the catcher made it a double play on a throw to first. Cortez herself put the game away by catching a line drive hit straight at her by Emi Todoroki, which would've driven in a run and brought the tying run back up to the plate if it had gotten through.

Cortez finished with 1-2 with a walk, a run scored, two RBIs and five shutout innings of work. Gahr will head to Roosevelt (Eastvale) on Saturday to see if it can pull off its biggest upset yet of the Southern Section Division 1 playoffs.