Mira Costa Takes to the Road, Takes Down La Mirada

The Mira Costa High softball team traveled to La Mirada on Thursday and brought their best defense and some timely hitting along with them in a 5-1 victory in the first round of the CIF Division 2 playoffs.

"Our pitching has left some to be desired at times this season and when the pitching hasn't been good it has given our defense lots of practice, and we are now a really good defensive team," Mira Costa coach Richard Amberik said. 

Sophomore pitcher Breanna Kelly allowed only five hits in five innings to come away with the victory, aided by that quality defense.

"Everyone did their job; our defense has improved so much" Kelly said. "They got to all the ground balls and the left side of the infield [Amanda Gard and Stefani Lajeunesse] were like a brick wall out there, nothing got by them."

In the bottom of the first, Kelly got two quick outs then walked Pauline Monreal. Jennifer Klewein then lined a shot off Kelly's leg to reach base. With runners on the corners, Loni Tyler singled to bring in Monreal and give the Matadores a 1-0 lead. Kelly would induce a ground ball out to end the inning.

Cleanup hitter Rachel Lee led off the second inning for Mira Costa with a single, and advanced to second on a sacrifice by Meghan Vonbehren. Gard then singled and with two runners aboard Kamyle Glover drove home Lee with a single to even the score.  Taylor Glover grounded out, but Jonele Conceicao singled with two outs bringing Gard home and giving the Mustangs the lead.

Kelly pitched a scoreless second with some help from Gard at shortstop, who made a nice stop and flipped the ball to Kamyle Glover, who turned a double play to end the inning.

Catcher Katie Saunders lead off the third inning hitting a smash that almost cleared the left field fence, giving her a stand-up double.

"When it came off my bat it had that great sound, but I didn't know if it would get out. It was close," Saunders said. "I was nervous initially, but we wanted this game so much for our seniors."

Lee picked up her second single of the game to give the Mustangs runners on first and third. With two outs, Gard hit a single to the outfield that drove in two runs giving the Mustangs a 4-1 lead.

"I was just looking for contact and got a pitch to drive to the outfield," Gard said. "The last three wins we've really had a lot of fun. We [seniors] didn't know if it would be our last game so we just gave 100 percent, and it was a great win for us today."

In the fourth, with two outs, Stefani Lajeunesse was hit in the head by a pitch.  She shook it off and would score later in the inning after singles by Saunders and Chloe Krasnoff.

With a 5-1 lead Kelly allowed a single and a walk in the sixth and was relieved by Amanda Padilla, who picked up the save with two scoreless innings.

Mira Costa will continue playoff action Tuesday in the second round as it takes  on the No. 2-seed Redlands at home.