Ocean View wins CIF softball title

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IRVINE — Brandice Cutspec thought she had hit into a pop up to the outfield.

It wasn’t until the sophomore said she heard “loud cheering” from Ocean View fans echo in her ears and then caught teammates jumping up and down out of the corner of her eye as she headed toward first base in the bottom of the sixth inning of Saturday’s CIF Southern Section Division IV softball title game against Bishop Amat, that she knew she hadn’t hit into just any routine fly out.

It was so much more than that, with a bases loaded situation adding to the drama at Deanna Manning Stadium at Bill Barber Park in Irvine.

Cutspec sent a rocket shot past the fence in left-center field with nobody out in the bottom of the sixth and it was her grand slam that wiped out a 2-0 Bishop Amat lead and triggered a huge inning that led to an 8-3 victory and gave Ocean View its first CIF title in the sport in 23 years.

Bishop Amat outfielders Samantha Sifuentes and Jessica Traxler crashed into and knocked down the chain-linked fence segment at the spot where Cutspec smashed the ball, in a spirited but vain attempt to prevent the inevitable.

“To be honest, I really thought I hit a pop up because I dropped my hands on my swing,” Cutspec said. “Then I heard loud cheering and began to notice my teammates jumping up and down and then I thought, “Oh my gosh, I just hit a grand slam!’

“I never thought I’d hit a home run in a CIF game, let alone a grand slam. I can’t describe the feeling, really, other than I’m just really happy.”

Once Cutspec, who had three homers coming into the game, crossed home plate she, naturally, was mugged by her teammates.

“I couldn’t breathe,” she said. “I told everyone to give me some room. It’s a feeling, though, that I won’t ever forget.”

Ocean View would have liked to have forgotten the first five-plus innings.

The Seahawks trailed 2-0 through 5 1/2 innings although Holli Floetker had been doing an outstanding job on the mound to that point. She didn’t give up her first hits (two) to the Lancers until the top of the sixth inning. But a pair of unearned runs, one in both the fourth and sixth innings, had led to Amat’s 2-0 lead. Yet Ocean View, which had made a habit of coming on strong late in several games this season, finally got to Lancers starting left-handed pitcher Amy Lwin in the bottom of the sixth.

Actually, the Seahawks had flirted with a few earlier scoring opportunities before they finally sent Lwin (17-9), who will play next year at UC Riverside, to the bench.

Ocean View’s biggest inning of its 29-1 season began in the bottom of the sixth when Sara Craig reached base after Lwin couldn’t handle her hit back toward the mound. Nikole Afusia followed with a single to right field and then Brenna Klein came up with a big at-bat, fouling off consecutive pitches on a full count before sending a single into center field that went off Sifuentes’ glove and brought in Craig from second base. Floetker then sent a shot toward third base and when her hard hit bounced off the Lancers’ Alyssa Ramirez, everyone was safe and the Seahawks loaded the bases.

That brought Cutspec to the plate.

In her first at-bat in the second inning, she struck out looking. In the fourth inning, she flew out to deep center field to Sifuentes. On her third attempt, she took the first pitch offered by Lwin well past the right-center field fence to give Ocean View a lead it wouldn’t relinquish.

The grand slam invigorated the Seahawks and both stunned and deflated the Lancers at once.

But the inning wasn’t over.

With Ariel Whiteman taking over for Lwin, Ocean View tagged the junior for three more runs. Melissa Carroll singled and two outs later, Brooke Hitchcock poked a double up the gap in right-center field that scored Carroll. Craig came up with an infield single that scored Hitchcock and Afusia capped Ocean View’s scoring when she sent a sharp single to left field to score Craig for an 8-2 lead.

The damage in the inning? The Seahawks parlayed seven hits and two Amat errors into an astonishing eight-run inning.

Floetker, who only lost once on the mound all year to finish 19-1, then had to withstand one more Amat threat in the top of the seventh. She gave up three hits in the inning and a run-scoring, bases loaded walk to Alissa Oddo to make it 8-3. But with bases loaded and two out, Ramirez sent a solid hit that looked as though it might drop into shallow right field, but Craig came up with a diving, tumbling catch, to end the game.

The Ocean View celebration was on.

“She’d been hitting to right field all game, and I was ready,” Craig said of Ramirez. “I just knew she was coming to me. I was just so happy to make that catch.”

It was a huge grab for Craig who is in her first year with the program.

“This is not just a team, it’s really a family,” the freshman said as she looked out at her teammates mugging for group pictures after the game. “I know everyone says that but with this team, it’s so true. These girls are amazing and this team is incredible.

Craig then looked down at her left arm, the blond hairs raised high.

“I just got goose bumps saying that.”

Saturday, indeed, was one of those goose-bump days for all Seahawks.

Ocean View’s 2008 CIF-Southern Section Division IV softball championship team is Vanessa Cardoza, Celine Fuentes, Brenna Klein, Sara Craig, Regina Guzman, Holland McNabb, Brandice Cutspec, Melissa Carroll, Brooke Hitchcock, Nichole Adams, Autumn Martinez, Nikole Afusia, Holli Floetker, head coach Randy Cruz and assistant coach Mike McLaughlan.

MIKE SCIACCA covers sports. He can be reached at (714) 966-4611 or by e-mail at [email protected].