Ocean View walked a tightrope in the first inning, getting out of a bases loaded jam unscathed, but the Seahawks softball team found itself in dicey situations too often Tuesday afternoon.
Ontario Christian had runners in scoring position in nearly every inning, and designated hitter Ashlynne Burk eventually made Ocean View pay for it. She drove in three runs with a pair of hits as the Knights defeated the Seahawks, 5-0, in a CIF-SS Division 4 wild-card game at Ocean View High.
Ontario Christian (17-8) moves into Thursday’s first round, where it will meet Knight of Palmdale (24-3). Ocean View finished its season with a 14-8 record.
“Those kids came out today and gave me 150 (percent),” Seahawks coach Liberty McCollum said. “Can’t complain. It was just unfortunate we couldn’t cash in on those runs when we had the chance. We had runners in scoring position a couple times. It would’ve changed a little mojo.”
The Seahawks mustered only five hits against Knights pitcher Autumn Moya, but drew four walks, and they managed to put runners in scoring position in four innings, including the final three when it was trailing by multiple runs.
Ocean View went 0 for 5 in those situations.
“Capitalizing on mistakes and walks, I think it would’ve changed the mojo a lot,” McCollum added.
Ontario Christian also struggled to come up with a timely hit in the first three innings, stranding five runners in that span.
With the bases loaded in the fourth, the Knights’ first run crossed the plate on a wild pitch from Seahawks right-hander Alyssa Slater.
Ontario Christian second baseman Alexis Toledo drove in another run with a ground ball hit to the right side of the infield.
Burk extended the lead to 3-0 with an RBI single in the fifth, and her chalk-grazing double down the left field line in the seventh drove in two more runs and gave the Knights a 5-0 lead.
In other wild-card games:
Also in Division 4:
San Marcos 5, Segerstrom 2: The Jaguars (15-8) lost to the visiting Royals.
In Division 3:
Tesoro 11, Kaiser 1: The Titans (9-14) scored all of their runs in the sixth inning. Tesoro will play at fourth-seeded Burroughs of Burbank (21-4) on Thursday.
Peninsula 9, Northwood 4: The visiting Timberwolves (9-17) lost to the Panthers.
In Division 5:
Moreno Valley 10, Estancia 0: The Vikings pounced on the host Eagles early and ended their season via the mercy rule in the fifth inning. Estancia finished the year with a 10-13 record.
In Division 7:
Orangewood Academy 30, Lennox Academy 3: Freshman Alexis Campos homered twice and drove in eight runs as the Spartans (10-7-1) bulldozed the Panthers. Orangewood Academy will play Coast Union on Thursday.
Contact the writer: kconnolly@ocregister.com
