Oaks Christian wins softball championship, beating Alemany

Acorn Sports Writer


MICHAEL COONS/The Acorn  AS FAR AS SHE GOT--Vanessa Rodriguez of Bishop Alemany slides safely into third base, beating the throw to Amber Peterson of Oaks Christian during the Southern Section Division IV final in Irvine on Saturday. Oaks Christian won, 2-0. The third time was charm--after two straight runnerup years.

MICHAEL COONS/The Acorn AS FAR AS SHE GOT–Vanessa Rodriguez of Bishop Alemany slides safely into third base, beating the throw to Amber Peterson of Oaks Christian during the Southern Section Division IV final in Irvine on Saturday. Oaks Christian won, 2-0. The third time was charm–after two straight runnerup years.

In a third try at winning a California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) championship, the Oaks Christian softball team beat Bishop Alemany, 2-0, in a game played at Barber Memorial Park in Irvine Saturday. The Lions are Southern Section Division IV champs.


Oaks Christian manufactured single runs in the bottom of the fourth and fifth innings, and senior right-hand pitcher Ashlee Freeman capped her spectacular high school records by notching a shutout, while striking out nine, yielding only three hits and walking none.


The Lions ended the season at 32-2. The 32 wins tied a CIF record. OCHS had lost in the CIF final game each of the past two seasons.


"It’s a lot better to be on the winning end of this," Freeman said after the victory. "We knew we deserved it, so we’re glad that we did it."


In the bottom of the fourth, with no score, Ashlee Veilleux, the Lions’ sophomore shortstop, led off with a base hit to left field, the opposite way for the left-handed hitter. Julia Humphries, the freshman second baseman, sacrificed Veilleux to second base.


After sophomore third baseman Amber Peterson grounded out, Veilleux stole third base with two outs and Freeman walked. Tiffany Day, a junior left fielder, nubbed a roller to third on a check swing and the throw to first was mishandled in the dirt, allowing a run—Veilleux—to score.


"If the leadoff batter gets on, we usually start hitting," Veilleux said. What did head coach Pete Ackermann, then coaching third base, tell her when she reached third? "Before I ran home, he told me to dive head first, so I did."


The next inning, the bottom of the fifth, the Lions added an insurance run by mounting a two-out rally when senior catcher Shannon Van Vorst stroked a base hit to center field with two outs, stole second base and scored when Veilleux again singled to left field.


Freeman was relieved to get the first, then the second, run.


"The whole game I was thinking, ‘We need a run, we need a run.’ Then when we finally got that one, it was like, ‘Yes, we can do this, we can do it.’"


About the second run, Freeman said, "Once we had two runs, it took some more of the pressure off, and I could just ease up a little bit, knowing that even if they (Bishop Alemany) did happen to somehow get a run, we’d still be ahead."


The sophomores—Kaslin Tucker, the right fielder, Bryeanne Fitzgerald in center field and designated hitter Errin Sakakini—and senior first baseman Sara Radabaugh rounded out the Oaks Christian starters.


"It’s amazing. It’s everything we could have wished for," Radabaugh said about the championship. "We worked hard and did our best. One team wins their last game and we did it. It’s just how you want to end it all. It’s a great feeling."


Other members of the Lions team were: sophomores Brianna Cox, Melissa Gaeto, Amanda Gill, Sydney Latta and Jen Paul, and freshmen Katherine Anderson, Heather Day and Meagan Gonzalez.


Was it easier the third time back at the same stadium and field?


"It wasn’t easier," said Van Vorst. "But we were used to everyone in the stands and we were used to everything going on around us. We weren’t as nervous as we were in the past."


Day said it was the Lions turn to shine. "It was just kind of our time. This is our last year with our seniors, so it’s special for them," said Day.


Freeman took Ackermann’s advice—to try and play like it was just another game—and she said her teammates used the same approach.


"We took it more as just another game, because we knew we’d play better that way," Freeman said.


About winning as a member of the Oaks Christian first-ever senior class, Freeman added, "It’s amazing. Being your senior year, it’s your last chance. You just go out with a bang. You just go out doing your best."




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