Beaumont High’s softball team has everything this season.
Well, just about everything.
The Cougars have one last item on the check list – they will be in Irvine today, and winning the CIF-Southern Section Div. 5 championship will make the season complete.
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“The whole season has been great but we still have something to prove,” Beaumont Coach Jim Tickemyer said. “It’s been a pleasure winning the league title and going to CIF. We have pretty much annihilated every team record, team and individual. It’s been a great season.”
Beaumont (25-4) faces La Canada (25-3) in a 5:15 p.m. game at Deana Manning Stadium.
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It will be Beaumont’s first CIF championship game appearance in softball and the school’s first CIF title game appearance since 2007 when the Cougars lost to San Jacinto in a baseball final.
Beaumont has been a hit on campus. Hundreds of fans lined the field for Tuesday’s semifinal. And the notion of a rooter bus for today’s game was being bandied about Wednesday.
“The support has been better than ever,” Tickemyer said. “The athletic director is behind us. We’ve received calls and emails from teams in our league and from throughout our area. We’ve received calls and emails from colleges saying they support us. The support from throughout the area has been unbelievable.”
The second seeded Cougars bring a 12-game win streak to the final and have won 17 of their last 18 games. They advanced into the championship game via their 4-0 semifinal win over El Monte Arroyo on Tuesday.
The statistics for individual players on both teams are staggering.
Pitchers Alyssa Fuimaono (Beaumont) and Lauren O’Leary (La Canada) have logged 351 innings combined (174 by O’Leary, 177 by Fuimaono) and struck out 430 batters (201 by Fuimaono, 229 by O’Leary). Together they’ve won 48 games (24 wins for each).
Beaumont is batting .363 as a team and its offense has been anchored by the likes of Stephanie Tickemyer (tied for team lead with 28 runs scored), team leader with 45 hits and tied for the team lead with 12 doubles. Fuimaono is batting .384 and leads the team with 36 RBI.
But La Canada is the top seed for a reason. The Spartans have won 22 straight games and 50 games dating back to the start of last season. The Spartans reprised their roles as Rio Hondo League champions this year and were semifinalists last year.
“I think we know enough about them to be prepared for them,” Tickemyer said. “They have a good pitcher. She has a lot of movement on the ball. We just have to play our best game.”
It’s No. 1 versus No. 2, just the way Tickemyer wanted.
“We know they are tough,” Tickemyer said. “I think they are saying the same thing about us right now. We are super excited about playing them.”
