Softball: La Habra routs Fullerton to stay perfect in Freeway League

La Habra players greet Maritza Diaz (1) after hitting a home run in the second inning as they play Fullerton in their Freeway League girls softball game at La Habra High School in La Habra on Thursday April 20, 2017. La Habra defeated Fullerton 12-0. (Photo by Keith Durflinger/Whittier Daily News/SCNG)


By Stephen Ramirez
LA HABRA >> La Habra High School has been rated one of the top 20 softball teams in the state all season and Thursday they lived up to that billing.Janelle Rodriguez hit two home runs and Hannah Johnson threw four shutout innings to lead host La Habra to a 12-0 victory over Fullerton in a Freeway League game that was stopped in the fifth inning because of the 10-run rule.Maritza Diaz, Anissa Alatorre and Johnson also hit home runs for the Highlanders (14-6, 4-0), who are ranked No. 20 in the state by MaxPreps.com, No. 8 in CIF Southern Section Division 1 and No. 1 in the area.Kira Cauley, Rodriguez, Diaz and Savannah Tourville had two hits each for La Habra. Alyssa Brundage and Ceci Lopez had singles for Fullerton (10-10, 2-2).
“We just had to be patient today,” said Rodriguez, who was the 2016 Whittier Daily News Player of the Year. “We talked about not being anxious at all. It was our main goal today.

“We had to stay back. (Fullerton’s) defense had to work a little bit harder today.”
La Habra put it away early, leading 7-0 after scoring two runs in the first and five in the second.
Rodriguez, who had four RBIs, highlighted the early uprising with a three-run home run in the second for the seven-run lead.
She led off a four-run fourth with her second home run for a 9-0 lead.
“(Both pitches) were right there,” Rodriguez said of her two home runs. “I had to jump on them. I wanted to get more runs for my team and keep the inning going.”
Alatorre capped the scoring with a two-run home run for a 12-0 lead in the fourth. Alyssa Palacios also had a triple in the inning. She went 1 for 2, with a sacrifice fly in the first.
Johnson, who gave up one hit and struck out three in four innings, was perfect through three. She got the first two outs in the fourth before Brundage singled to left.
Elena Valenzuela and Rodriguez got the final four outs.
“I’m very proud of our kids,” La Habra coach Steve Harrington said. “Fullerton is a good team; their coach does a good job with them. I would say we just caught them on a bad time.”

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