Northview High players swarm over Monet Manning after her game winning home run in the bottom of the seventh inning vs Barstow High at their Covina campus field May 19, 2014. (Staff photo by Leo Jarzomb/San Gabriel Valley Tribune)

By Stephen Ramirez
steve.ramirez@langnews.com
@SteveRRamirez on Twitter

COVINA — Northview High School combined good play with some playoff magic to score the best season in its history last year.
The Vikings’ mojo appears to be back.
Monet Manning led off the bottom of the seventh inning with a home run to center field to give Northview a 5-4 victory over visiting Barstow in a CIF-Southern Section Division 5 wild-card game on Monday.
The Vikings improved to 14-13 and will travel to Ontario Christian for a first-round game at 3:15 p.m. on Tuesday. Barstow, which twice rallied from two-run deficits, finished 13-13.
Manning, who lined a single off the center field fence in the fifth, lived up to the billing, launching a shot a little higher in the seventh. It glanced off the glove of Jordan Neal and over for the 5-4 win.
Northview, after Barstow’s Gabby Rodriguez tied it at 2 with a two-run home run in the fourth, took a 4-2 lead in the bottom on the inning. Darlene Jaramillo tripled to left before Mia Lopez and Marissa Chacon had RBIs.
Barstow rallied to tie it at 4 in the sixth. Alexus Fermenic doubled to make it 4-3. Ann-Marie Hernandez, who had singled, over ran third, but scored on a botched run-down play to tie it at 4.
“They didn’t give up,” Barstow coach Richard Johannsen said of his team. “They kept trying and trying. It was a tough game.”
Northview coach Jeff Butler: “We talked before the game, that it was a new season (now). Last year, we got hot in the playoffs and I like our matchups. I’m glad for Mo. I knew she was going to hit a home run in that situation.”

Northview’s Monet Manning: “That line drive off the fence (in the fourth inning), I thought I just needed a little more power to get it over. I feel pretty amazed that I did do that. I’m happy it was the game-winning hit.”

OTHER CIF-SS SOFTBALL SCORES
DIVISION 2
South Hills 7, Tesoro 4
Redlands 10, West Covina 1
Diamond Bar vs. Ontario
DIVISION 3
Bishop Amat 17, Lancaster 0
DIVISION 5
Katella 20, Workman 0
Edgewood 7, Immaculate Heart 3
Azusa 3, Nipomo 1
Notre Dame/Riverside 4, Wilson 3