CLICK HERE FOR A PHOTO GALLERY FROM FRIDAY’S MARYMOUNT-LA SALLE GAME

By Miguel A. Melendez, Staff Writer

IRVINE – An unlikely source of power emerged when the La Salle High School softball team needed it most on Friday.

Freshman Katie Smither stepped to the plate in the grandest stage in front of a boisterous crowd, and she didn’t waver.

Smither, unable to shake nerves and emotions running high, not only showed she belonged, she owned the moment.

Smither went 3 for 3 with a home run, double and a single to power the Lancers past Marymount of Los Angeles 6-0 to win the CIF-Southern Section Division 6 championship at Deanna Manning Stadium.

La Salle (25-6) avenged its 3-2 loss to Marymount (24-7) in last year’s final to win its second CIF-SS championship in four years. It proved to be a pleasant departing gift for seniors Allie Forillo, Samantha Krost and Ashley Rodriguez, who also celebrated her birthday.

“We had one thing in mind all year, and that was to get to the CIF championship game regardless of who we were going to play,” La Salle coach Rich Diaz said. “These girls believed in each other and played with a lot of desire, and there was no stopping them.

“We played a good team, but somehow we had a feeling that we wanted it more.”

Marymount clearly wasn’t the same team that emphatically won the title last year. The top-seeded Sailors committed too many errors (four) to overcome a staggering offense in the lopsided loss. La Salle scored six runs on 11 hits. Marymount had only four.

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“We put pressure on the defense,” Diaz said. “Allie pitched another great game.”

Forillo (23-3) played a big part in the Sailors’ offensive woes. She struck out nine, including the side in the sixth, and did not walk a batter. She finished with a staggering 357 strikeouts this season.

Friday’s near-flawless performances was a vast difference to the four walks, two earned runs, five hits allowed in last year’s finale.

Fellow junior Sterling Shuster went 2 for 3 with a single and an RBI double. Smither scored three runs and drove in three.

“You would never expect a freshman to come in and give the performance she gave,” Diaz said. “She struggled a little bit in the last game, but she saw the ball and had hit after hit. We fed off that, that’s for sure.”

La Salle broke the game open in the sixth when it scored four runs on six hits. Marymount committed two errors in the inning.

Marymount’s Megan Blank wreaked havoc on the base paths last year, but her speed and powerful bat – she was batting .586 with 27 RBIs and four home runs coming into the game – were nonexistent Friday.

The junior struck out, grounded out and had her lone hit in the sixth. Perhaps a sign that it wasn’t the Sailors’ day was when Blank was thrown out at second.

“Last year we tried to pitch her all outside and she kind of kept extending,” Forillo said. “We tried going inside her and jam her and I think that worked.”

Forillo was surprised by Marymount’s meltdown.

“We hit the ball well,” Forillo said. “And if you put pressure on the defense, that’s what you kind of expect.”

La Salle got a run in the third when Smither connected on a 2-0 pitch for a double to center. Meaghan Allen laid down a bunt single, but a throwing error to third allowed Smither to score from second for a 1-0 lead.

Smither hit a bloop single to right field and advanced to second on an error. Madison Worley’s bunt single went high and over the first baseman. That allowed Smither to score and make it 2-0.

Marymount’s hopes for defending its title unraveled in the sixth. La Salle’s Victoria Baltazar singled down the third-base line and Shuster doubled her in to make it 3-0.

Forillo connected on an 0-2 pitch for a single to left that moved Shuster to third. Krost’s sacrifice scored Shuster and Smither connected on the first pitch for a two-run home run to straightaway center.

Smither said she was nervous in her first at-bat, but her wide smile gave way to the day she had.

“It kind of went away after that,” Smither said. “After my first at-bat I came to the plate with confidence. I was able to think and I felt I could do it again.”

La Salle loses three seniors and returns plenty of young talent, including freshman Stephanie Ferri.

“I definitely don’t feel like I’m a freshman anymore,” Smither said.

“Definitely at the beginning of the year you feel secluded, but I’ve gotten to know them and I’m now a part of them.”

More now than ever.

miguel.melendez@sgvn.com

BOX SCORE
SOFTBALL
CIF-SS PLAYOFFS
CHAMPIONSHIP
DIVISION 6
La Salle 6, Marymount 0

La Salle 001 014 0 – 6 11 1
Marymount 000 000 0 – 0 4 4

Allie Forillo and Stephanie Ferri; Hayley Schultz and Alison Griffiths

HR: Katie Smithers (LS); 2B: Smither (LS), Sterling Shuster (LS). RBI: Smither (LS) 3. SO: Forillo (LS) 9; Shultz (Mar) 9. W: Forillo 23-3. L: Schultz 18-3

Records: La Salle 25-6; Marymount 24-7