SANTA ANA – Dana Hills softball coach Brandon Cosenza said his team had been in a bit of an offensive funk going into its nonleague game against Mater Dei on Tuesday at Carl Thornton Park.
The Dolphins broke out of it in a big way, coming through with clutch at-bats and collecting 10 hits in an 11-7 victory over the Monarchs, who are ranked No. 5 in Orange County.
Five players had at least one RBI for the Dolphins (8-10).
Among the key hits was Cozette Zoch’s three-run triple – her second triple of the game – that came with two outs and keyed a five-run, fifth inning for the Dolphins, who went from being three runs behind to take a 7-5 lead.
Dana Hills starting pitcher Serafine Parish helped her own cause with two-run single in the sixth and Jesse Nagel delivered an RBI triple in the seventh.
Mia Onesto also contributed for Dana Hills, going 3 for 3 with two walks, two RBI and a run scored.
“We had a tough, tough week last week,” Cosenza said. “We were in two tournaments and we were a little bit exhausted. We re-grouped yesterday and had a great practice … We battled with two strikes and put the ball in play and good things happened.”
Zoch’s triple in the first, combined with two singles and an error led to two runs for the Dolphins.
Neli Casares-Maher singled home a run for the Mater Dei (9-3) in the bottom of the first, and Emma Clark’s three-run, inside-the-park home run in the second gave the Monarchs a 4-2 lead.
In the fourth, Nyomi Jones singled, stole second and third and then scored on a ground out to give the Monarchs a three-run lead and set the stage for the Dolphins’ big fifth inning.
Mater Dei’s Irene Castro was 2 for 4, with an RBI, two stolen bases and two runs.
