Southern Section Softball Playoffs : Rice and Fountain Valley Keep Cypress Down, 8-1

A team is a composite, and one player alone cannot win or lose a championship. But a change in personnel can sure make a difference.

Last season, Cypress High School’s softball team cruised to the Southern Section 4-A title behind the pitching of senior Nicky Luce, the 1987 4-A player of the year.

But Luce is now at Cal Poly Pomona. And Cypress is now out of the playoffs.

Fountain Valley dethroned the defending 4-A champion in convincing style, defeating Cypress, 8-1, Tuesday at Fountain Valley.

The Barons (23-6-1) jumped on starting pitcher Beth Howard for seven runs in the second inning, then took advantage of reliever Ingrid Swick for another run in the fourth.

The Sunset League champions have scored 23 runs in their first two playoff games, and freshman pitcher Rae Rice (18-5) has given up only one run and four hits in each of her playoff outings.

“She’s pitching better than she was,” Fountain Valley Coach Cary Baker said. “When we get runs like that, she can just go for the batters.”

After Rice popped up to open the second inning, Shannon Harrison followed with a base hit to start the deluge. Twelve Barons came to the plate in the inning, and seven hits, two walks and one Cypress error later, Fountain Valley had a 7-0 cushion for Rice to work with.

Swick, a freshman who had a 12-5 record as a starting pitcher this season, relieved Howard (6-6) with two outs and two runners on base and got Kelly Manders to ground out.

Swick breezed through the third inning with three quick outs but struggled in the fourth. She walked four straight, giving Fountain Valley its eighth run, and Howard re-entered the game. Her second time around, Howard, a sophomore, was much sharper, giving up just two hits and striking out two in three innings.

But the damage was done. Cypress managed just one run--in the sixth inning--the only inning the Centurions sent more than four batters to the plate. Cindy Powers, who singled, scored on Sandy Buckner’s double.

“We just couldn’t get anything going,” Cypress Coach Tom Farr said. “We hit the ball, but right at people. They’re a very good team.”

Cypress, the Empire League champion, finished its season 18-11.

Fountain Valley plays at Thousand Oaks, the 4-A runner-up last season, in Thursday’s quarterfinals. Thousand Oaks (24-7) defeated Long Beach Wilson, 3-1, Tuesday.

In another 4-A playoff game:

Ocean View 3, Gahr 0--The Seahawks, who got into the playoffs as an at-large team after finishing fourth in the Sunset League, upset top-seeded Gahr at Ocean View. Senior Cindy Schneller pitched a one-hitter, upstaging Gahr’s DeDe Weiman, who was 24-2 going into the game. Weiman, a junior, struck out six and gave up four hits.

Ocean View scored all its runs in the bottom of the sixth. With one out, Schneller singled, advanced to second on a wild pitch and scored on Marla Pickard’s double. Then Jamie Walker, with an 0-2 count, hit a two-run home run.

Gahr, the San Gabriel Valley champion, finishes 24-4. Ocean View (16-13) will play Buena in Thursday’s quarterfinals.