Esperanza pulls off another surprise

After an up-and-down regular season, Esperanza's improbable run through the CIF-SS Division I softball playoffs continued with a 3-0 victory over third-ranked El Modena on Tuesday at Esperanza High.

Esperanza, which needed an at-large berth to get into the playoffs and wild-card victory to get into the main draw, took down top-ranked Mater Dei, 5-2, in the first round.

The Aztecs have another tall order when they take on UCLA-bound Destiny Rodino and fourth-seeded Hart of Newhall on Thursday in the quarterfinals. The site will be determined by a coin flip.

The Esperanza-El Modena game featured two of the top sophomore pitchers in the county with Esperanza's Alexis Borden going head-to-head with El Modena's Haylie Wagner.

Wagner struck out the first four batters she faced before running into Borden, who hit a towering homer un to left field for a 1-0 lead.

"I was really worried because Haylie plays for my (travel ball) team and she is a great pitcher," Borden said, "and I really haven't gotten a hit off her this season, so that was real great.

Trea Steele, the hero of Esperanza's first-round victory over the Monarchs, and Northwestern-bound Kristin Scharkey had back-to-back RBI doubles in the bottom of the fifth to push the lead to 3-0 and give the Aztecs some insurance.

Borden did a masterful job in the circle, shutting out El Modena (22-10) on three hits with two walks and striking out nine to record the shutout for Esperanza (19-13-2). Wagner allowed three earned runs, five hits a hit batter and struck out six to take the loss.

"I was crazy," Broden said. "I've had a rough two weeks, very rough. The last two games I think I got pulled in the third inning. I had an early lesson yesterday and I worked my kinks out. I just came out today and pitched."

In other Division I games:

Edison 5, Foothill 4: The Knights (19-8-1) had the bases loaded with two outs in the top of the seventh and Anna Avalos singled to left to drive in one run, but Chargers left fielder Casey Africano gunned down the runner at third to end the game and preserve the victory for Edison (22-5).

Jordan Malavar belted a three-run homer in the bottom of the first to stake the Chargers to an early lead and they added two more runs in the bottom of the fourth for a 5-2 advantage.

Emilee Koerner went 3 for 4 with a double and two RBIs and Hallie Wilson went 2 for 3 with two doubles and two runs to lead Foothill.

Edison plays Riverside Poly in the quarterfinals on Thursday at a site to be determined by coin flip.

Norco 4, El Toro 0: Stanford-bound Teagan Gerhart pitched a four-hitter to lift the top-seeded Cougars (29-2) over the host Chargers (16-16).

Santiago (Corona) 5, Los Alamitos 2: Sarah Beeman went 2 for 3 with a solo homer and a double and Jackie Sweet went 2 for 3 with an RBI and a run scored as the visiting Sharks (25-4) eliminated the Griffins (23-9).

Contact the writer: carias@ocregister.com