By Steve Ramirez
twitter.com/SteveRRamirez
CHINO HILLS — Lakewood High School didn’t need much to beat Chino Hills, but the Lancers don’t need much when Janelle Hayes is in the circle.
Thursday was no exception.
Hayes tossed a four-hit shutout and struck out 11 and Lakewwood advanced to the CIF-Southern Section Division 2 semifinals with a 2-0 victory over host Chino Hills in a quarterfinal game at Big League Dreams Park.
The Lancers, getting a pair of RBI singles from Kylie Lundberg and Montana Dixon, improved to 23-6 and will travel to Millikan, a 5-3 victor over Ayala, in Tuesday’s semifinals.
Trish Parks gave up for hits and struck out 10 for the Huskies, who finished 25-8. Chino Hills, which was seeking its second consecutive CIF-SS title after winning Division 3 last season, also received two hits from Shianne Brannan.
“It is what it is,” Chino Hills coach Mike Southworth said. “We hadn’t been shut out all year, so for them to shut us out, (Hayes) was obviously pretty effective. She worked the outside part of the plate really well, and that’s softball.
Chino Hills coach Mike Southworth: “It is what it is. We hadn’t been shut out all year, so for them to shut us out, (Hayes) was obviously pretty effective. She worked the outside part of the plate really well, and that’s softball. Her placement of her pitches was good enough to cause our kids some problems. It was tough.”
Lakewood coach Andy Miramontes: “We just had little base hits that we were able to cash in. It was a little flair here and there. I told the girls with a pitcher like (Parks), you just have to concentrate on putting the ball in play, which is what they did.”
Lakewood’s Janelle Hayes: They were helping me out, because they were taking some aggressive swings. Lindsay has been making some fantastic plays the past few games, so even when they hit it deep, I knew she was going to make a play. I was confident she was going to catch it.”