West Hills pitcher Sabra Warner, meanwhile, snuffed Vista with a four-hitter and 12 strikeouts, avenging an earlier loss to the Panthers during the Easter break.
West Hills scored first in the fifth inning when Lacey Hebert hit into an error in right field, stole second, moved to third on Cortes' groundout and scored when Warner hit to short, with the throw to first dropped for another error.
Vista came right back in the sixth to knot the score, and stole a run from the Wolf Pack. Brittany Bassett singled hard to right and moved all the way to third base on Janna Bentley's sacrifice bunt. Then, Melissa Martinez put down another bunt, squeezing home Bassett, who made an excellent slide.
Hebert started the winning rally with an infield single and steals of second and third before Cortes' fly ball went over the left-fielder's head for an RBI single.
Vista's Jamie Beaty stopped West Hills most of the game, spinning a three-hitter and striking out seven.
But, relief pitcher Meghan Allman was up to the task. She struck out six herself, allowed only two hits and came up with a much-needed performance in locking horns with Escondido hurler Angie Nagtalon. Scripps now has won two straight championships and three of the last four.
Allman made the Falcons' second-inning run hold up. The Falcons scored when Chrissy Dileo doubled, moved to third on Le Etta Specht's bunt, and scored on Kristen Frank's infield hit to shortstop with two out.
Escondido never really threatened, but Scripps Ranch did find three good defensive plays handy. In the second inning with two out, Jamie Weiler bunted to move up Heather Drachman. However, the throw from the first baseman to the second baseman covering kicked away wild and wound up near Falcon shortstop Frank, who tossed out Drachman trying to reach third.
In the third, second baseman Taylor Edwards made a diving stop for the final out in the third, and left fielder Meagan Motley made an over-the-shoulder catch with a runner on in the sixth.
Norma Armas, with one out, managed an infield single and Melissa Ramirez followed with a double to left-center for the game's only run.
Alaina Bihler pitched a near-flawless game, walking none, striking out four and scattering four hits.
University pitcher Laura Ibarra almost matched her counterpart, walking none, striking out five and giving up five hits.
Division I
Wolf Pack immigrant shocks Vista
West Hills High's Lindsay Cortes, who just a year ago had only four at-bats as a freshman at Grossmont, left the Hillers for greener pastures and found them in the San Diego CIF Division I playoffs. Her home run Thursday (May 27) gave the Wolf Pack a semifinal win over No.1-ranked Rancho Bernardo, and her single in the last of the seventh broke a tie and shocked Vista in the title game Saturday for West Hills' first-ever CIF championship.
Wolf Pack 2, Panthers 1
ab r h bi ab r h bi
Bassett ss 4 1 1 0 LaRussa ss 3 0 0 0
Bentley cf 2 0 1 0 HMiller 3b 3 0 0 0
Martinez 2b 2 0 0 1 Pryor c 3 0 1 0
Cusey pr 0 0 0 0 CMiller 1b 3 0 0 0
Ellzey c 2 0 0 0 Hebert 2b 3 2 1 0
Roderfeld 3b 2 0 1 0 Millsap dh 2 0 0 0
Bell 1b 3 0 0 0 Horstman cf 0 0 0 0
McHugh lf 3 0 1 0 Williams ph 1 0 0 0
Beaty p 3 0 0 0 Cortes rf 3 0 1 1
Drennan dh 2 0 0 0 Warner p 2 0 0 0
Cochran rf 1 0 0 0 Fiege pr 0 0 0 0
Henson lf 1 0 0 0
Giamanco ph 1 0 0 0
Totals 24 1 4 1 Totals 25 2 3 1
Vista (22-10)...............000 001 0 ~ 1
West Hills (23-9)...........000 010 1 ~ 2
Two out when winning run scored.
GW-RBI: Cortes.
E: Cochran, Bell, LaRussa. DP: none. LOB:
Vista 6, West Hills 3. 2B: Pryor. S: Bentley,
Martinez, Ellzey. SB: Bentley, McHugh,
Hebert 3.
Vista ip h r er bb so
Beaty (L) 6.2 3 2 1 0 7
West Hills ip h r er bb so
Warner (W) 7 4 1 1 1 12
Division II
Scripps Ranch wins with ace on bench
Quiet hushed the large crowd at UC San Diego as Scripps Ranch senior pitcher, Dana Sorensen, strained the bicep area on her pitching arm and had to leave the game having pitched to only four hitters. She had struck out two batters, which beats the former San Diego CIF record-holder in career strikeouts by three: 896 to Ami Miner's 893 (Patrick Henry 1990-93 and later Long Beach State).
Falcons 1, Cougars 0
ab r h bi ab r h bi
Mateo 3b-1b 4 0 0 0 Oliver cf 3 0 0 0
Edwards 2b 4 0 1 0 Howerton 3b 2 0 0 0
Motley lf 2 0 0 0 Kading rf 2 0 0 0
Palmer rf 3 0 1 0 Moore lf 2 0 1 0
Dileo c 2 1 1 0 Summers c 3 0 1 0
Sorensen p 0 0 0 0 Nagtalon p 3 0 0 0
Specht 3b 1 0 0 0 Mena ss 3 0 0 0
Allman dh-p 2 0 0 0 Drachman dh 3 0 0 0
Fraleigh 1b 0 0 0 0 Ernau 1b 0 0 0 0
Frank ss 2 0 1 1 Weiler 2b 3 0 0 0
Novak pr 0 0 0 0
Velasquez cf 3 0 1 0
Ferreira pr 0 0 0 0
Totals 23 1 5 1 Totals 24 0 2 0
Scripps Ranch (19-5-1)......010 000 0 ~ 1
Escondido (20-8)............000 000 0 ~ 0
GW-RBI: Frank.
E: Dileo, Specht, Edwards. LOB: SR 7, E 7.
2B: Dileo. S: Howerton, Kading, Motley,
Specht 2.
Scripps Ranch ip h r er bb so
Sorensen 0.2 0 0 0 0 2
Allman (W) 6.1 2 0 0 1 6
Escondido ip h r er bb so
Nagtalon (L) 7 5 1 1 2 1
HBP: by Allman (Moore), by Nagtalon (Frank).
PB: Dileo.
Division III
Lancers return to the top
Hilltop High won its first CIF Division III championship since 1996, and it took only a first-inning run to stop last year's runner-up.
Lancers 1, Dons 0
ab r h bi ab r h bi
Beverly cf 3 0 1 0 Austin c 3 0 0 0
Vasquez c 3 0 1 0 Armas ss 3 1 2 0
Ellis 2b 3 0 0 0 Ramirez 3b 3 0 1 1
Hess ss 3 0 0 0 Gardea 2b 2 0 0 0
Ibarra p 3 0 2 0 Rhoden dh 3 0 1 0
KrGulbransen 1b 3 0 0 0 Hopkins 1b 0 0 0 0
Pollock rf 2 0 0 0 Bihler p 3 0 1 0
KaGulbransen lf 2 0 0 0 Saylor rf 3 0 0 0
Ghio dh 2 0 0 0 Munoz lf 2 0 1 0
Howard 3b 0 0 0 0 Jay rf 1 0 0 0
Totals 24 0 4 0 Totals 23 1 5 1
University (16-12-2)..........000 000 0 ~ 0
Hilltop (26-4)................100 000 x ~ 1
GW-RBI: Ramirez.
E: Austin. DP: Hilltop 1. LOB: Univesrity 3,
Hilltop 6. 2B: Ramirez, Munoz. S: Gardea.
University ip h r er bb so
Ibarra (L) 6 5 1 1 0 5
Hilltop ip h r er bb so
Bihler (W) 7 4 0 0 0 4
HBP: by Ibarra (Jay).