Above: Jazmin Chavez scoring for the Vikings after tripling home Makaila Garcia.

By Fred J. Robledo Staff Writer
The way the San Dimas High School softball team jumped on Northview pitcher Chrissy McPhail, you might of thought Vikings coach Jeff Butler would start a rain dance hoping the light drizzle would turn into a down pour so they could start it all over another day.
But the Vikings and McPhail persevered, overcoming an early three-run deficit to pull out a 7-5 victory to take over sole possession of first in the Valle Vista League.

Above: Samantha Martinez legging out an inside-the-park three-run homer for the Vikes.

The Saints opened with three straight hits of McPhail, one a triple by Aleena Avalos that drove in Sara Moore, with Ashley Vinsonhaler adding an RBI single to stake the Saints to a 3-0 lead.
McPhail gave up five runs over the first three innings, but she settled down to blank the Saints the rest of the way, and the Vikings got big hits at opportune times to improve to 13-5 and 7-1 while the Saints dropped to 10-7 and 6-2.
“I told Chrissy that’s why you play the whole game, you can’t let one or two bad innings bother you,” Butler said. “She wasn’t very sharp to begin win, maybe the rain and weather having something to do with it. But she battled back. That’s what she does, she never stops competing.”
McPhail helped herself at the plate too, singling in the third and scoring on Jazmin Chavez’s triple. Makaila Garcia’s single scored Chavez, cutting the Saints’ lead to 3-2.
The Vikings were just getting warmed up.
With two runners aboard in the fourth, Samantha Martinez belted a shot to center and legged out an inside-the-park three-run homer to give the Vikings a 5-3 lead.
The Saints came right back in the bottom half to tie the score 5-5 following back-to-back doubles by Kayla Norrie, Candice Nunez and an RBI single by pitcher Kortnie Clarke.
But the Vikings weren’t done, getting a two-out double from Felicia Calles than drove in Sarina Jaramillo and Emily Lewison to give the Saints a 7-5 lead that they never relinquished.
“We had batting practice the other day that you wouldn’t believe,” Butler said. “It felt like we hit 50 home runs, and they were hard hit balls.
“I was telling the girls, you just have to believe in yourself, believe you can get big hits when it counts. We haven’t been a team that takes advantage of a lot of those opportunities, but we did today.”