LA PALMA – Having to face the nation’s top-ranked softball team, Los Alamitos, and the county’s No. 2 team, Mater Dei, might make most squads shake a bit.
But those were the match-ups Mission Viejo wanted after recent losses to both teams. The Diablos got their payback Saturday.
Camryn Ybarra went 4 for 4 with four runs and Kyra Snyder hit a three-run home run to power the No. 3 Diablos to a 14-4 victory over Mater Dei in the championship game of the Best of the West tournament at Kennedy High.
“They wanted this tournament bad,” Mission Viejo coach Troy Ybarra said. “They wanted a little bit of payback today. They were fired up.”
Mission Viejo lost to Mater Dei last week in the semifinals of the Tournament of Champions in Arizona. In Saturday’s semifinals, the Diablos faced Los Alamitos, which beat Mission Viejo on Thursday.
In Saturday’s semifinals, Mission Viejo scored four runs in the fifth inning to beat Los Alamitos, 6-2.
In the final, Snyder’s home run capped a seven-run fifth inning for the Diablos.
“The kids were seeing the ball today.” Troy Ybarra said. “When you have a tight strike zone, the hitters are waiting for their pitches, and they got some good pitches.”
Camryn Ybarra manufactured runs in the first and second innings against Mater Dei as the Diablos took a 3-0 lead.
Priscilla Martinez and Hannah Wessel had RBI doubles that brought Mater Dei to within 3-2 before Mission Viejo opened things up.
Bella Loya and Snyder hit RBI doubles in a four-run fourth inning for a 7-3 lead. Loya, Allison Harvey and Terra McGowan collected RBIs in the fifth before Snyder’s game-ending blast.
Snyder finished 2 for 3 with four RBI, and Harvey went 2 for 3 with four RBI and two runs.
In the Best of the West third-place game:
Los Alamitos 14, Eastlake of Chula Vista 1: The Griffins scored five runs in the third and fourth innings for the four-inning victory.
