Ocean View wins CIF title

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

It wasn’t until the sophomore said she heard “loud cheering” from Ocean View fans and then caught teammates jumping up and down out of the corner of her eye that she knew she hadn’t hit into just any routine fly out.

Cutspec’s sixth-inning shot cleared the fence in left-center field, helping the Ocean View softball team to an 8-3 victory against Bishop Amat in the CIF Southern Section Division IV championship game at Deanna Manning Stadium at Bill Barber Park in Irvine.

Bishop Amat led, 2-1, until Cutspec’s grand slam, which paved the way to Ocean View’s first CIF title in 23 years in the sport.

“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 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, champion of the Golden West League and the No. 4 seed in the tournament, would have liked to have forgotten the first five-plus innings that ended with Del Rey League champion Bishop Amat (22-9) in the lead.

The Seahawks trailed, 2-0, through 5 1/2 innings, although Holli Floetker had been doing an outstanding job in the circle. She didn’t give up her first hit to the Lancers — who finished with two — until the top of the sixth inning, but a pair of unearned runs — one each in the fourth and sixth innings — 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 left-handed pitcher Amy Lwin in the bottom of the sixth.

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

Ocean View’s biggest inning of its spectacular 29-1 season began when Sara Craig got on base after Lwin couldn’t handle her comebacker to the mound. Nikole Afusia followed with a single to right field and then Brenna Klein came up with a huge at-bat, fouling off consecutive pitches on a full count before sending a single into center field that went off Samantha Sifuentes’ glove and brought in Craig from second base.

Floetker then sent a shot toward third base that bounced off the Lancers’ Alyssa Ramirez, loading 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. 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 a now-joyous group of 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. Sara 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 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 charged up to make 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.

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