CHAMPIONS! El Modena players begin their celebration on the field after defeating Glendora, 12-4, in the CIF-SS Division II championship game at Bill Barber Park in Irvine. ARMANDO BROWN, FOR THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER AudioEl Modena's Kylie Wagner talks about her two-run homer and the Vanguards' 12-4 triumph over Glendora
AudioEl Modena's Emily McEwen, who went 4 for 5 with a homer and three RBIs, talks about the team's victory
AudioEl Modena coach Steve Harrington talks about his team's run to the Division II championship
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El Modena overpowers Glendora, 12-4, in championship game
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Softball playoffs: Back-to-back HRs in first propel Vanguards to first CIF title.
IRVINE It took less than two innings for El Modena to score seven runs and give Glendora a serious case of whiplash.
It ended up taking a little less than three hours for the Vanguards to finish off Glendora, 12-4, in the CIF-SS Division II championship game Friday night at Bill Barber Park.
El Modena (26-8-2), which hadn't been to the finals since making back to-back appearances in 2001 and 2002, captured it first championship with the victory. Glendora (19-10) was making its first appearance in the finals.
The Vanguards pounded out 13 hits and their 12 runs tied the 1982 St.Joseph of Santa Maria team for the CIF-SS record for most runs in a championship game.
“They couldn't stop us from scoring,” said El Modena coach Steve Harrington, who had guided the Vanguards to those previous two finals appearances. “I thought we did a real nice job being selective at the plate. I liked the way our kids swung the bat. They felt very confident. We prepared very hard.”
Kylie Wagner and Emily McEwen hit back-to-back homers during a five-run first inning.
They picked up two more in the second to knock Glendora starter Dana Waldusky out of the game after 11/3 innings.
Wagner's two-run shot was a line drive that cleared the fence in right-center field. McEwen's was a towering shot that went well beyond the fence in left-center field.
“I knew she was going to come up with a high one. I got my hands out and the ball just went,” said Wagner, who went 2 for 4 with four RBIs and recorded the complete-game victory.
“It felt great,” said McEwen, who went 4 for 5 with three RBIs. “I haven't hit a home run in a long time. It was just the best feeling in the world. I felt it pop off the bat.”
The huge lead put the Vanguards in the unusual position of having a big lead rather than fighting from behind as they had done throughout the playoffs.
El Modena came back from a 3-0 deficit to knock off top-seeded Kennedy on freshman Devin Vanderhoff's game-ending homer in the bottom of the eighth in the semifinals.
It was not always the prettiest game. The two teams ended up combining for 21 hits, 19 stranded base runners and seven errors.
The Vanguards won by a large margin, but Glendora was threatening in nearly every inning. The Tartans had the bases loaded in the first and third innings and both times Wagner came up with pitches to escape unscathed. Glendora stranded 11 base runners.
“First of all, to Glendora, I never felt that the game was in the bag until the very end,” Harrington said. “Those kids are a scrappy group of kids. (Glendora coach) Reese (Mitchell) is an incredible coach and those kids were resilient.
“I'm very fortunate that our kids had a lot of fight in them, because we knew after that first inning even though we got five runs, when they started coming back and answering, they weren't going to go down easy. Every time they got a little rally, we answered the call, so I was very proud of what our kids were able to accomplish because it wasn't easy.”
Contact the writer: carias@ocregister.com
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