LATE BLOOMERS Ventura rides rebound all the way to first CIF softball final By Rhiannon Potkey | rpotkey@vcstar |805-437-0282 Playing for a CIF-Southern Section title? Heck, it was only a few weeks ago the Ventura High softball team was just hoping to make the playoffs. But the Cougars have hit their stride when it matters most. Bolstered by the pitching of Audrey Esakoff and team wide offensive contributions, Ventura will be making its first CIF-SS final appearance in program history. Esakoff threw a complete-game five-hitter and Marina Coffin, Sage Fazzone and Rebecca Nelson drove in runs to lead Ventura to a 3-1 victory over La Quinta in the CIF-SS Division 4 semifinals on Tuesday afternoon at Ventura High. “Our team is just unbelievable. What a dark horse,” Ventura coach Bob Dixon said. “At the beginning of the year, I didn’t even think we would be close to this. But our girls have really pulled together and completely turned this season around.” Ventura (16-10) will play Santa Monica either Friday or Saturday at Deanna Manning Stadium in Irvine. Santa Monica beat Dos Pueblos 4-0 to prevent an all-Channel League championship showdown. After a loss to Santa Barbara a month ago, Ventura held a team meeting to discuss the team’s realistic goals for the rest of the season. The resilient Cougars decided to narrow their focus to having fun and playing for each other. “No one expected this, but we just tried to take it one game at a time and see what happened,” Esakoff said. “We knew we had five games total in the playoffs, and after we won the first one we thought ‘Wow. We have a shot at this. We can do it.’ Now here we are at the fifth game. We are all starting to believe in ourselves and it’s working out.” Against La Quinta (21-9), Ventura jumped out to an early lead when Sophie Dahlstedt led off the first inning with a single, was sacrificed to second base and driven home by Coffin. La Quinta answered in the second inning, scoring on a wild pitch to tie the game 1-1 after Kendyl Scott led off with an infield single and was sacrificed to third base with a bunt and a fly ball. But Ventura pushed across the go-ahead run in the bottom half when Nelson led off with a single and was driven home on a two-out single up the middle by Fazzone. The Cougars added an insurance run in the fifth inning after loading the bases with no outs. Nelson drove an RBI single up the middle for a 3-1 lead. Esakoff held La Quinta in check the rest of the way, striking out three batters in the final two innings. “Her drop ball was working fantastically. It was off-speed enough and dropping just at the right time,” Dixon said. “They were a very aggressive team. I tip my hat to them. They came ready to play. But I guess they are all good teams at this point.” Dahlstedt finished 2 for 2 with a walk and was hit by a pitch for Ventura. Coffin, Nelson, Carly Camarillo and Paige Schouten each had two hits. After Esakoff threw to first base for the final out, the Cougars tossed their gloves in the air and swarmed together in celebration. “I don’t even know what to say. This is just amazing,” said Dahlstedt, her white jersey caked in dirt. “When is the last time Ventura has done this? It’s just so good to be able to share this experience with all these girls. They deserve it. I am so happy for our team.”
Posted on: Wed, 28 May 2014 02:48:23 +0000
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