Hamer Is Nails for El Toro

El Toro’s Jennifer Hamer didn’t start Wednesday’s Southern Section Division II wild-card game, but she finished it.

Hamer scored the game’s only run in the top of the seventh inning, then ended Ocean View’s two-out rally by catching a fly ball to center field as El Toro advanced into the first round of the softball playoffs with a 1-0 victory at Ocean View.

Hamer missed Monday’s practice--”personal reasons,” she said--and didn’t play the game’s first 2 1/2 innings as a consequence.

After striking out in the fourth, her bunt single led off the seventh.

Then her speed paid off. She stole second base and took third when the ball bounced off her foot into the outfield.

“No fear,” Hamer said. “I saw it go between the outfielder and the infielder and I thought I could beat the throw. Once I decided I was going, my feet weren’t stopping.”

Then Ocean View’s defense misfired--again. The Seahawks decided to intentionally walk leadoff batter Dana Gulick, but on the two-ball pitch-out, catcher Cara Vanderhook tried to pick off Hamer at third base. It was a designed play, but it backfired because Hamer wasn’t far off the bag and Vanderhook’s throw was wide into foul territory. The ball went down the left field line and Hamer scored easily. It was the sixth of Ocean View’s seven errors.

“[That play] has worked for us during the year, and the girl batting [Gulick] had put the ball in play and gets good height on the ball when [when she slaps it],” Ocean View Coach John Sansone said. “You take your shots.”

Ocean View’s shot at winning came in the bottom of the seventh with two outs. Consecutive singles by Jennifer Wright, Lovie Jung and Lisa Messick loaded the bases. Freshman Leah Gulla hit the ball well, over Hamer’s head in center field, but she ran back to get it and end the game.

El Toro’s Suzanne Guy (9-3) gave up eight hits for the victory. El Toro (19-12) plays at second-seeded La Mirada (21-2-1) on Friday. La Mirada beat the Chargers in the Woodbridge tournament, 7-2, in eight innings using the international tie-breaker, but Guy didn’t pitch.

The loss ended a terrific late-season surge by Ocean View (16-11), which won its final five games and beat Rosary and Westminster within 24 hours over the weekend to force a tri-championship in the Golden West League.

In another Division II game:

Diamond Bar 1, Sonora 0--Sonora (17-13-1) didn’t score with runners at second and third and one out in the fifth inning when Monica Gaxiola was tagged out at home plate, completing a double play. Diamond Bar (17-7) scored on a passed ball in the bottom of the inning to advance to a first-round game against Apple Valley.

In Division VI:

Capistrano Valley Christian 16, Riverside La Sierra Academy 1--Merin Kennedy was not only the winning pitcher with 13 strikeouts in Capistrano Valley Christian’s romp of La Sierra Academy, but she also accounted for three home runs and four RBIs. Capistrano Valley will play at Riverside Calvary Chapel at 3 p.m. Friday in a first-round game.