RIVERSIDE – Softball is a game often decided by inches, and that definitely was the case Tuesday for Riverside King and Cypress.
Cypress extended the game by throwing out the potential winning run at home plate three times during extra innings. King made certain its fourth opportunity to win was not wasted.
McKenzie Phillips scored the deciding run on a suicide squeeze bunt by Allison Stark in the 11th inning as the Wolves outlasted Cypress, 1-0, in a CIF-SS Division 1 semifinal game.
King will take on Pacifica in the championship at Barber Park in Irvine. The game will be played Friday or Saturday.
“This is what our team has been working for all season,” said senior pitcher Alexis Osorio, who tossed a one-hitter with 14 strikeouts. “Playing for a champions means everything.”
King (27-5) had two chances to win the game earlier, but some sterling defensive plays by Cypress (22-9) kept the game scoreless.
Kacey Whitney threw out Alyssa Saldana at the plate to snuff out King’s scoring chance in the ninth inning. The Wolves had a pair of runners thrown out at the plate on the same play in the 10th. Domonique Acosta fielded a grounder at short and fired home to get Sarah Costlow. Ashleigh Inae got into a rundown between first and second, so Hayleigh Weissenbach made a break home. Acosta fired to the plate to get the out.
“Our defense made some great plays to keep things going,” Cypress coach John Felicetti said. “Our odds of scoring a run against that pitcher weren’t very high, so our best hope to win was to keep on extending the game.”
Phillips led off the 11th with a bunt single and moved to second on a passed ball. Jordan Olivarez sacrificed Phillips to third. Felicetti decided to intentionally walk King’s next two hitters to set up a force at the plate.
On the first pitch, Stark bunted the ball back to the circle. Cypress pitcher Ashley Ross fielded the ball, but her toss went under the arm of Kristyana Boghossian, and Phillips touched the plate to score the winning run.
“I was actually pretty calm when I saw coach Tiff (assistant coach Tiffany Lane) give the sign,” Stark said. “I just had to get it down.”
“I told Tiffany right before the game started that a squeeze might come into play today,” King coach Lucinda Brewer said.
Osorio walked a season-high six batters in the game, the result of a tight strike zone.
“I just kept pitching my game, and adjusted to what the umpire was calling,” Osorio said.
Sarah Hamre and Allie Wood nearly put the Centurions ahead in the sixth inning, but their fly balls were tracked down at the fence.
Contact the writer: ejohnson@pressenterprise.com
