Division V Champions. Photo by Craig Westerbeek
(Irvine) – Courtney McGee’s dominance in the postseason was punctuated in style with a one-hit shut-out to give Whittier Christian back-to-back Division V Championships with a 4-0 win over South Hills.
“It is like Harmony,” said Heralds head coach Dale Van Duyn. “This team played together. We came out with five seniors and some freshmen. They all came together to win this championship.”
McGee completed one of the most impressive postseason runs by a pitcher in recent memory, throwing 41 scoreless innings and allowing just three hits in six games for the Heralds. McGee also struck out 64 batters during her MVP run.
The Huskies valiant playoff run met an immovable object in McGee, who settled into her own after Brittney Rodriguez singled in the first inning. After Rodriguez’s single, only two other batters would make it on base.
“I knew going in that the Huskies were a good batting team,” said McGee. “It was going to be a real battle to keep them from scoring runs.”
McGee was nearly flawless in Championship run. Photo by Craig Westerbeek
The South Hills defense which played incredibly during the postseason was their downfall as they had four errors in the game. None larger than Abby Moreno’s in the third inning when a routine pop fly from Amanda Perez was misplayed. Two batters later, McGee promptly hit a double to right field that scored both Perez and Richelle Coberly to open up the scoring.
After scoring 54 runs in their previous five playoff games, the Huskies had no offensive answer against McGee the entire game.
South Hills pitcher Sydney La Follette appeared flustered after the two run inning in the third and never appeared to get the momentum she had heading into the championship game.
It showed in the fifth inning, when Kat Marten singled and La Follette lost control of a pitch that hit Perez on the helmet. With runners on first and second, Coberly moved over the runners on a sacrifice bunt. La Follette then intentionally walked McGee to load the bases. Beka Kikuchi took the first offering from La Follette and sharply hit a grounder to Kristen Stewart who wildly overthrew the third baseman, allowing Perez and Marten to score.
McGee would then retire the last nine batters she faced to complete the historic run of Whittier Christian. For the Heralds it was the first time in school history they won back-to-back titles.
WHITTIER CHRISTIAN 0 0 2 0 2 0 0 4 4 1
SOUTH HILLS 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 1 4
2B: Courtney McGee
RBIS: McGee 2, Bekah Kikuchi
Leave a Reply