MARAUDER SOFTBALL ADVANCES TO SUPER REGIONALS WITH SECOND STRAIGHT BIG WIN

Photo by Bruce Jacobsen

LANCASTER - Maybe Santa Ana should have let AVC score first.

In the two games that No. 6 Antelope Valley Softball played in the first round regional playoff best of three series, when the No. 11 Dons scored in the top half of the inning, AVC responded with 11, 5 and 7 runs.

In Sunday's game two, it took until the second inning to get a score, but once the Marauders got to hit, down 1-0, the bats started up again.

Dolly Stevens picked up a singled and was brought home by a Elise Moore single.  Then with two outs, the top of the order showed the first inning was a fluke, with a Valerie Dorantes clearing the loaded bases with a double, and Paige Johnson added to her state record RBI total with a single.  

Santa Ana scored another run in the top of the third, and AVC reacted the way they had each other time the Dons scored - picking up seven straight hits and seven runs.  

With two on, Katie Weiser hit her second home run in two days, scoring three.  Weiser had not gone yard since high school.

Then the Marauders Row came up and after a Tawnee Hegre triple that scored two, Paige Johnson knocked out her state leading 22nd home run, with two RBI that brings her state record total to 97.

Not to be outdone, after closing her home run total to just one behind Paige on Friday, Stevens launched a towering shot to left field for her 21st homer and three RBI.  That shot also scored Johnson, who tied the Marauder record for season runs with 68.  Erica Ricker scored 68 times in 2006.

Morgan Arndt took her 24th win of the season with a four hit, two strikeout effort from the circle.

AVC is now just one win away from tying the 2006 Marauder squad which won 28 in a row.  AVC also finished perfect at home with a 19-0 record in Marauder Softball Stadium.

The Marauders now await the results for the other playoff series to find out where they will head for the Super Regionals which begin on Friday, May 12.  Barring any upsets of the five teams ahead of them, they should play in the No. 2 regional at Mt. San Antonio against El Camino.