Woodbridge Picks Up a Wild Win

With two out in the bottom of the ninth inning and a runner at third base, Fullerton Rosary pitcher Darcie McClelland tried to issue an intentional walk to Kendra Singley.

She instead threw the ball over the head and off the glove of her catcher, allowing pinch-runner Courtney Sierra to score and give Irvine Woodbridge a 2-1 victory Tuesday in a Southern Section Division I softball semifinal. It sets up an all-Sea View League title game either Friday or Saturday at Woodbridge’s home field, Barber Park.

“We practiced the intentional walk once, maybe twice this season,” said Rosary Coach Tom Tice, “and none since spring training.”

The final pitch of McClelland’s record-setting career shocked the Royals (24-7), who were ranked No. 10 by The Times and seeded third. They had beaten No. 16 Woodbridge (26-8) earlier, 3-0.

“We were looking for a wild pitch, but not on an intentional walk,” said grateful Woodbridge Coach Alan Dugard, who watched sophomore Lauren Peterson open the ninth with a single. Sierra pinch-ran, taking second on a hit and run and third on a grounder to second base.

That brought up Singley, a dangerous hitter who had opened the game with a double to the left-center-field gap. It was an easy call for McClelland (21-5) to try to give her a free pass.

-- Martin Henderson

Santa Ana Foothill 11, Camarillo 6 -- In the other Division I semifinal, Whitney Radcliff was five for five, Chelsea Cantillo had a grand slam and Caitlin Lowe added a two-run home run for visiting Foothill, which finished with 18 hits against a Camarillo team that had posted four consecutive shutouts.

Lowe’s home run gave the Knights (20-12) a 2-0 lead in the third, but Camarillo (24-7) scored three times in the bottom of the inning thanks to four Foothill errors. Foothill answered with six runs and seven hits in the fourth to put the game away.

Every starter had at least a hit for the Knights, seeking their third section title in five finals since 1992. Freshman starter Sara LaRue (17-4) and sophomore reliever Lori Gilbert, who threw three innings for the save, combined to limit the Scorpions to three hits.

Katelyn Miller had a two-run triple for Camarillo, which had outscored its previous playoff opponents, 18-0, and began the game batting .339 as a team.

-- Dave Desmond

Whittier California 1, Diamond Bar 0 -- Jennifer Davis (27-5) pitched a five-hitter with six strikeouts and no walks to lead the Condors in a Division II semifinal at Diamond Bar.

It was Davis’ 15th shutout in her last 16 games and put California into the finals against Norco, a 1-0 winner over Anaheim Canyon. California (27-5-1) scored in the third inning, when sophomore Jennifer Griffin’s single drove in Joy Sallapaga.

Diamond Bar (21-8), which managed only one hit in the first five innings, threatened in the sixth, putting two runners on base, but cleanup hitter Ryann Horseman, who had singled, was victimized by the hidden-ball trick for the final out.

-- Rafer Weigel

Garden Grove Pacifica 5, Redondo 0 -- The top-seeded Mariners advanced to their first championship game since 2000 as sophomore Brittany Weil (28-2) pitched a five-hitter with 13 strikeouts in a Division III semifinal at Redondo (17-11).

Pacifica (30-2) scored all the runs it would need in the first inning. Amy Mayrhofer led off with a single. Crystal Vieyra followed with a double, driving in Mayrhofer, and advanced to third on the throw home. Vieyra scored on Jodie Legaspi’s groundout.

Redondo (17-11) had its best scoring chance with two out in the third when Nicole Bronstein struck out but was safe at first on Weil’s wild pitch and Ashley Steiner singled. The threat ended when Weil struck out Jamie Thomson.

-- Steven Herbert