Rosary’s first run crossed the plate in part because of the sun’s beaming rays.
Royals second baseman Nicole Siess added to that lead in the fifth with a solo shot that cleared the fence with an assist from Nicole Martinez’s glove in center field.
Fluky? Sure. But luck had nothing to do with pitcher Amelia Wiercioch’s performance in holding the Royals’ lead.
The junior right-hander fanned 10 and silenced the bottom half of Yorba Linda’s lineup to give No. 9 Rosary a 4-1 nonleague victory over the No. 8 Mustangs on Tuesday afternoon at Yorba Linda High.
“They’ve had our number the last couple of years,” Rosary coach Tom Tice said of the Mustangs. “It was nice to play good defense today, get great pitching and come up with some big hits.”
Wiercioch scattered eight singles, seven of which came from the top of Yorba Linda’s order. The Mustangs’ five-through-nine hitters went just 1 for 15 as Wiercioch notched her seventh win of the season.
“They never really hit the ball hard on her,” Tice added. “There were no extra base hits, nothing that had our outfield scurrying for anything. They were having to go station-to-station.”
Rosary (7-1) jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the first when Mady Christensen skied a ball to shallow left field that Mustangs sophomore Meredith Meadows lost in the sun, allowing Katelyn Christensen to score from third.
In the the fifth, Siess drove a fastball from Ciara Stapp to deep center field. Racing back to the fence to attempt a backhanded grab, Martinez was unable to glove the ball cleanly, ultimately bouncing the deep fly over the wall for a home run.
Andrea Hester’s RBI double later in the fifth pushed Rosary’s lead to 3-0.
The Mustangs (3-2) loaded the bases with one out in the bottom half of the inning, but their only score came when Wiercioch bounced a pitch that hit Ashlyn Monroe and brought home Sierra Bauerle.
In other nonleague games:
Bishop Amat of La Puente 2, No. 3 Orange Lutheran 1: Junior Noelle Hee blasted a solo home run in the top of the second inning, but the visiting Lancers (4-1) were unable to tack on any additional runs. Bishop Amat scored two in the fifth.
Villa Park 5, Sonora 4: Junior Lexi Ruel drilled a three-run home run, and teammate Jordan Stream added a two-run homer for the visiting Spartans (2-0). Krista Dalgarn earned the win, while Ruel notched the save.
Cypress 3, Torrance 0: Paige Hallam’s two-run double in the first proved to be all the run support senior pitcher Olivia McWhorter needed to beat the visiting Tartars. Cypress won its fifth straight game to open the season.
No. 4 Mission Viejo 9, San Clemente 1: Terra McGowan and Allison Harvey racked up three hits apiece for the Diablos (3-0), who stormed out to a 6-0 lead in the first inning at San Clemente.
Dana Hills 17, Beckman 0: The visiting Dolphins racked up 24 hits, and sophomore pitcher Serafine Parrish struck out 14. Hailey Hoklotubbe, Tori Sickmeier and Sami Williams each notched four hits for Dana Hills (2-2).
JSerra 10, Irvine 2: Sophomore Cameron Cecil belted a bases-clearing triple that sparked a nine-run fifth inning for the Lions who were trailing by a run at the time. JSerra pitcher Kayla Kmett struck out nine and scattered four hits.
Contact the writer: kconnolly@ocregister.com
