Heritage has too much firepower for the opposition, 11-0

Adriana Abrantes launches a home run to start the scoring in Heritage's 11-0 win Tuesday. (Photos by Rick Rowell)

By Paige Mendez, Correspondent

The Heritage High softball team will be moving to the quarterfinals of the CIF-SS Division 3 playoff tournament after a mercy-ruled win over Western Christian High Tuesday afternoon.

The Patriots held their opponent scoreless through five innings while tallying 11 runs of their own. They will play next at Temescal Canyon Thursday at 3:15 p.m.

Those runs started with a home run from senior Adriana Abrantes in the bottom of the second inning (above photo and left).

“It was so sweet,” Abrantes said. “I saw it come off the bat and it was one of those feelings where I knew it was gone.”

That started a rally for the Patriots (22-4), who scored one more run in that inning on a sacrifice from Makayla Ansell that brought Tyler Suttles home.

After a quick three outs thrown by Patriots pitcher Tara Skinner, Heritage got the rally going again. Cassidy Shaw started the inning with a single, scoring quickly thereafter when Sydney Farmer hit a triple to deep left. Farmer also crossed the plate soon after, thanks to a sacrifice from Kaylee Fraund.

Skinner stayed on the mound for the next inning and got in a tight spot with the first three batters loading the bases but bailed herself out with a flyout and two strikeouts to ensure no runs scored.

This style of aggressive pitching is something Coach Raul Olivas said he has planned out.

“That’s just the quality of pitching that we have,” Olivas said. “We can offset hitters and shut them down, and that’s our plan for CIF.”

A walk, single and hit-by-pitch loaded the bases to start the bottom of the fourth and it seemed to be easy from there. Two fielding errors led to three more runs and with runners then on first and second, Skinner hit a home run to left-center (photo at right) to put the Patriots up 11-0 going into the fifth inning.

Olivas then put Shaw in to pitch and she closed the game with a quick two strikeouts—both looking—and a groundout to first. The win goes to Skinner, who threw four of five innings and allowed no runs.

For Abrantes and the three other seniors on this team, this year will be the first time they go to the CIF quarterfinals. Abrantes said she hopes the community will come see what her team can do.

“Come watch us, come support us,” she said. “We’ll obviously put on a show for everybody. This the farthest we’ve made it in years.”

Her coach had a similar sentiment to add.

“We want the community to know that this is a program that has struggled in the past, but the future is bright over here,” Olivas said. “We’re the future.”

Sydney Farmer pulls into third base with a triple during the Patriots' win over Western Christian. (Photo by Rick Rowell)