Eagles lose first-ever CIF championship game in softball

MICHAEL COONS/The Acorn SHARING A MEMORY--Despite losing to Orange Lutheran, 2-0, during the CIF Southern Section Final on Saturday, Michelle Bregar, left, and Melissa Johnson both smile during the awards ceremony.

The Oak Park softball team made it to the California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) championship game for the first time in school history, but the Eagles will have to be content with a runners-up finish after being defeated by Orange Lutheran, 2-0, in a game played at Barber Memorial Park in Irvine last Saturday afternoon.

Orange Lutheran rallied for one run in both the fourth and sixth innings and finished the season 27-6 and with a 16-game winning streak. Oak Park ended the season 20-11 and a 10-game winning streak came to an end with the title-game loss.

Maggie Davidson, a sophomore right-hander, pitched the shutout for Orange Lutheran, while Melissa Johnson, a senior right-hander who will pitch at North Carolina Greensboro next year, took the loss for the Eagles.

Oak Park coach Roger Newell said he and his players were proud to be the first Eagle team to advance to the championship game and that losing wouldn’t detract from that.

"I wasn’t dissatisfied with our hitting today," Newell said. "I think we hit the ball hard but right at people. And as far as this team has gotten, they’ve played good defense up to this point, and I’m not disappointed in anything that happened today."

Orange Lutheran parlayed a base on balls and two singles into one run in the bottom of the fourth and took advantage of two Oak Park errors to score the second run in the sixth.

Orange Lutheran coach Steve Miklos said playing in the finals can conceivably be less stressful than the game that led to it.

"There’s more pressure in the semifinal game," he said. "That’s the game that all the money’s on. You win the game, you get to the big game or you’re gone. And nobody remembers who’s in the semis."

Miklos added, "I tell the girls, ‘You’re here, enjoy it. You’re going to get a banner in the gym whether it says champion or finalist, and a lot of great players don’t get to experience that.’"

Oak Park senior shortstop Michelle Bregar got to experience the thrill of winning a CIF championship playing for the Eagles’ girls’ basketball team last year. She agreed that playing in such big games should be savored.

"When you get to the playoffs, you’re playing really competitive teams and it doesn’t get any better than that," Bregar said. "You get so pumped to play, it’s an adrenaline rush. It’s so much fun and I’m glad I got to experience it."

Johnson said Orange Lutheran had the advantage of going deep into the softball playoffs before and utilizing that familiarity.

"They had been in playoff situations like this, and we haven’t, so they had the edge," she said.

Still, said Oak Park’s leading hitter, the Eagles surpassed expectations this season.

"At the beginning, no one expected us to go this far," Johnson said. "It’s a whole new team. Everyone has improved so much. The hitting has come around and we’ve played as a team, finally."

Newell praised Johnson, a four-year starter who set various school records for the Eagles.

"It’s not going to be fair to compare the next pitcher to Melissa because Melissa is irreplaceable," Newell said.

Said opposing coach Miklos, "She’s (Johnson) definitely the best pitcher we’ve faced in the playoffs. We’ve faced some good pitchers and we’ve been hitting really well. She did an outstanding job."

Newell also praised his three other seniors, Bregar, third baseman Jannel Buckley, and catcher Brittany Dahl.

"The four seniors accounted for over 100 hits for our team," he said. "They’re all going to be missed for their leadership. We counted on them and they came through."

Newell said the play of the remainder of the team, which included junior center-fielder Jessie Phillips, junior right-fielder Kara Klamecki, freshman first baseman Dani Abrams, junior second baseman Nicole Purkey, and sophomore left-fielder Melissa Jacobs, was also indispensable this season.

"The bottom of the lineup started producing, getting key hits," he said. "Then we started playing better defense, a few breaks went our way, and here we are."