MORENO VALLEY – Martha Epenesa called it the least she could do. For her Valley View teammates, it was the most they could have asked for.
Epenesa delivered a tiebreaking triple in the bottom of the sixth inning Tuesday to lift the Eagles of Moreno Valley over top-seeded La Habra, 3-2, in a Division 2 semifinal.
Reaching the championship game for the first time since 1999, the Eagles will face Mission Viejo on Saturday.
Valley View (27-1) extended its winning streak to 25 games and snapped La Habra’s at 26.
“It just felt like I had to be clutch in that moment,” Epenesa said. “It was the least I could do because I had made a couple of mistakes in the field.”
Epenesa’s decisive hit came a half-inning after La Habra (29-2) had completed a comeback from an early 2-0 hole.
After hard-hit outs in her first two at-bats, Frankie Mendoza ripped a one-out double in the top of the sixth and came home on Nikki Butler’s single up the middle to tie it.
In the bottom of the inning, however, Schuyler Broussard reached base on a hard-hit grounder to third base. With two outs, Epenesa hammered the first pitch deep to right center.
“We were trying to be a little aggressive there,” Valley View coach Rick Romero said. “We wanted to stay away from her (Hannah Johnson’s) off-speed stuff and rise.”
Epenesa’s winning shot capped an uneven day for her. Her decision to try for a force on a sacrifice attempt opened the door for La Habra’s first run. And she twice failed to produce with runners in scoring position.
“You can’t have that stuff in your head,” Epenesa said. “You’ve got to stay positive.”
On the La Habra side, the what-ifs will center on a couple of plays on the bases.
Pinch-runner Maritza Diaz was thrown out by right fielder Abbey Bates at the end of a wild sequence following Johnson’s run-scoring single in the fifth. Bates picked up the ball and fired home after the second overthrow on the play.
In the seventh, Johnson was thrown out by center fielder Cynthia Hernandez at second, trying to stretch a one-out single.
La Habra coach Steve Harrington was not in a regretful mood, however.
“They got some hits that had eyes, we had some hard-hit balls at people,” Harrington said. “I thought we actually played an outstanding game. You can always look at a play or two, but the bottom line is that we played well.”
Johnson allowed six hits, struck out three and walked one. Winner Eileen Perez worked her way around nine hits with one strikeout and no walks.
