HomeSportsLady Titans Get Walkoff Win

Lady Titans Get Walkoff Win

SURE-HANDED: Freshman shortstop Kinu Takasugi has been solid both in the field and at the plate. Daryl Chan Photo

Baseball lore is rife with the exploits—and failures—of players caught in the spotlight’s glare of the final at-bat. Nobody knows that feeling more today than San Marino High School senior Sammy Edmonds, who after pitching seven innings found herself at the plate with two out, a runner on first base and her team one out short of elimination on Tuesday afternoon in a CIF Division 4 wild card playoff contest.

After giving so much of herself to the program and fighting back from severe injury, the painful irony of recording the final out of the season and her career loomed large as the home crowd grew silent.

Edmonds lashed a ground ball to second base for what seemed to be the final out, but a wild throw allowed centerfielder Charis Chung to score all the way from first base with Edmonds taking third. Morgan Woodward did the rest, lining a single into right field, plating Edmonds for the winning run and a 6-5 victory, sending the Lady Titans into the bracket, where they faced Highland on Thursday afternoon.

Based on the early innings, it was a surprise that San Marino ever trailed. The Lady Titans scored three runs in the bottom of the first inning when shortstop Kinu Takasugi reached on an error and went to second on a single by right fielder Justene Huang. Edmonds then bounced a double off the top of the fence in right center to plate both Takasugi and Huang. First baseman Sierra Dunah singled to right to score Edmonds for the 3-0 advantage.

The Crusaders got on te board in the top of the third but San Marino struck right back when Erin Hill knocked in Dunah, who had singled to make the score 4-2 Lady Titans.

But Valley Christian, out of Cerritos, refused to cede, scoring two ruins in the top of the seventh to take a 5-4 lead, setting up San Marino’s heroics.

Senior Sammy Edmonds went seven innings Tuesday.

Edmonds, who a night earlier was named the team’s Most Valuable Player, went 2 for 4 at the plate with a single, double and two RBI. Dunah was 3 for 3 with an RBI and Woodward was 2 for 4 with the game-winning RBI.

Edmonds went the distance on the mound to get the win.

Tuesday’s was a game that wouldn’t have been played but for San Marino’s crucial 10-1 victory over Monrovia last Wednesday, which earned the Lady Titans third place and a spot in the wild card bracket.

San Marino softball has been in a CIF drought, the last time was 2013 and they were eliminated in the second round. This year, Coach Jose Quezada and his staff worked to change the mindset and the culture of the program and pushed the team to get into the tournament from the first day.

Quezada gave starts to his two seniors playing in their last regular season game, Sammy Edmonds in the circle and Lindsay Woodward at first base. The rest of the team is a young group, with six freshmen in the starting lineup to go along with junior Morgan Woodward.

In the bottom of the first inning, San Marino banged out 5 hits and used aggressive baserunning to score 4 runs, and the hostesses never looked back.

Foul line to foul line, the Lady Titans were led by great defensive plays. Highlights included Chung with two great running catches in centerfield and another freshman, Kira Glasse, hauling in a deep fly ball to left field and throwing a perfect strike to third baseman Hill, who put the tag on the sliding Wildcat for a double play to end the 6th inning. Takasuki also made an ESPN-worthy over-the-shoulder catch going from shortstop into shallow left field to steal a hit from Monrovia.  Catcher Jessica Van Fossen had a good day besides the tag at home as she threw out a runner trying to steal third.

On the mound, Edmonds took the bats out of the Wildcats’ hands, spreading 7 hits over 7 innings with 7 strikeouts and 1 walk while giving up just one run. Just three runners reached third base the entire game.

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