SOFTBALL NOTEBOOK: VALENCIA'S PLAYOFF OPENER AGAINST WESTLAKE NOT EASY.Byline: Ramona Shelburne Ramona Shelburne is an American sports journalist currently writing for the Los Angeles Daily News. Shelburne was born and raised in Los Angeles, California. She attended El Camino Real High School in Woodland Hills, California where she was a class valedictorian. Staff Writer The Valencia High softball softball, variant of baseball played with a larger ball on a smaller field. Invented (1888) in Chicago as an indoor game, it was at various times called indoor baseball, mush ball, playground ball, kitten ball, and, because it was also played by women, ladies' team didn't get an easy draw as a reward for earning the No. 2 seed in the Southern Section Div. I playoffs, but at least it knows what to expect. Valencia, for the second time in three years, will host Westlake in a first-round playoff game Noun 1. playoff game - one game in the series of games constituting a playoff game - a single play of a sport or other contest; "the game lasted two hours" playoff - any final competition to determine a championship , at 3:15 p.m. Friday. The Warriors (15-11, 7-7) finished fourth in the eight-team Marmonte League The Marmonte League is a high school sports league primarily made up of schools from Ventura County. The Marmonte Leauge is part of the CIF Southern Section. Click here to view the league schedule. , regarded as one of the most competitive leagues in Southern California Southern California, also colloquially known as SoCal, is the southern portion of the U.S. state of California. Centered on the cities of Los Angeles and San Diego, Southern California is home to nearly 24 million people and is the nation's second most populated region, . Valencia (25-3, 9-1) defeated Westlake 1-0 in the first round of the playoffs in 2003 when Kortney Bell lined a double to score Natalie Mueggler in the bottom of the seventh inning. Coincidently co·in·ci·den·tal adj. 1. Occurring as or resulting from coincidence. 2. Happening or existing at the same time. co·in , Valencia was also seeded second in 2003. ``It never fails, we always seem to draw a team from that league,'' Valencia coach Donna Lee Donna Lee is a bebop jazz standard itself based on the chord changes of the traditional jazz standard "(Back Home Again in) Indiana".[1] It is named after the now-obscure bassist Donna Lee. said after learning her team's first-round opponent. ``It doesn't matter, though. Bottom line is, we're going to have to beat everybody at some point if we want to win a championship.'' While there are many similarities in the storylines from the two games, this year's Valencia team seems to have a different character than those of the past. The Vikings won their fifth consecutive Foothill League title by defeating Saugus 5-1 on Thursday. Unlike its predecessors though, Valencia won the prestigious Woodbridge of Irvine tournament in April and staged numerous come-from-behind victories. ``We didn't play that well the first game against Saugus but we still had a chance to win,'' Lee said. ``This time, the girls were just so fired up and and didn't want anyone to spoil our mission of winning the league title again.'' --Hart gets in: Last week was a rocky one for the Hart softball team. First came word it would have to forfeit two games - a victory over Burroughs of Burbank and a loss to Valencia - for using an ineligible player. Then came the specter of missing the playoffs for the first time in over 20 years. In order to qualify for the postseason, Hart had to beat Burroughs on Thursday to keep its overall winning percentage above .500. Hart trailed 1-0 in the bottom of the seventh inning with two outs until freshman Alexis Caso blooped an RBI RBI abbr. Baseball runs batted in Noun 1. rbi - a run that is the result of the batter's performance; "he had more than 100 rbi last season" run batted in single into center to start a rally. Hart came back to win 3-2. ``The girls did that on pure guts,'' coach Cathy Giordano said. ``They wanted to win that game so badly.'' The victory gave Hart a 14-12 record, good enough to qualify for an at- large berth in the Southern Section Div. I playoffs. Hart was one of five teams to earn an at-large berth in the 32-team field. In previous years, there were no at-large berths. The Indians will open Friday against Thousand Oaks Thousand Oaks, residential city (1990 pop. 104,352), Ventura co., S Calif., in a farm area; inc. 1964. Avocados, citrus, vegetables, strawberries, and nursery products are grown. , the second-place team from the Marmonte League. Thousand Oaks beat Hart 7-5 on May 7 at the Thousand Oaks tournament. Ramona Shelburne, (818) 713-3617 ramona.shelburne(at)dailynews.com |
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