Home Runs Give Brea League Title

Brea Olinda got four hits off Magnolia’s Chrissy Hartman, but two were home runs and the Wildcats won their fourth Orange League softball title in eight years with a 2-0 victory.

Brea is 17-7, 8-1 in league with one game to play. Second-place Magnolia (11-11, 6-3) was the only team to beat Brea.

Geney Orris hit her county-best ninth home run and Anne Knobbe collected her third.

“I didn’t think they could hit an outside curve, but they can,” Hartman said. “They proved that.”

Orris’ opposite-field blast caught Hartman by surprise. The two played with each other on a travel team, and Hartman had told her friend over and over she must learn to hit the outside curve. On a 3-and-1 pitch, Orris showed that she could.

By the time right fielder Andrea Picchi reached the ball, Orris had rounded third. Orris, a sophomore, has 16 homers at Brea.

Orris (10-4) also was the winning pitcher. She struck out seven and walked one; Magnolia got six hits, three in the final two innings, two in the seventh.

Hartman (9-8) struck out four and walked one; she retired 11 of 12 before Orris’ home run, and 13 of 15 before Knobbe’s.