SAN MARCOS – Go ahead, say it. It is no longer a dream for the Cal State Dominguez Hills softball program. It is now a reality.
NCAA West Region champions!
Shortly after taking game two of the NCAA Super Regionals to force a winner-take-all, No. 6 Dominguez Hills overcame the pressure of top-seeded Cal State San Marcos' offense and held on to beat the Cougars 3-1 to win the program's first Super Regional.
A similar feeling as to winning either the American and National League pennants in Major League Baseball, the Toros, at 41-21, will leave for the Mile High City of Denver to represent the West in their very first NCAA Championship, informally known as the Division II World Series. The final site will be held at Metro State's Assembly Athletic Complex from May 26-31. Everything is to be determined as the NCAA will reseed the eight regional champions into two brackets. Much like the NCAA Division I Women's College World Series, it will be a double-elimination format with the two winners of each bracket meeting in a best-of-3 series to determine the national champion.
Friday's wins became more meaningful for several members of the coaching staff. Starting with 17th-year head coach Jim Maier, it is his first regional title in five attempts in his illustrious 30-plus year career in softball. For pitching coach Stephanie Guerra (formerly Jimenez), who pitched the Toros' last two super regional appearances (2012 and 2013) and came up short in both, will be making her first NCAA championship appearance having guided
Alyssa Olague,
Ashley Wies and
Clarisa Ramirez this season. For assistant coach Katie Garcia, who has played and coached the Toros since her freshman year in 2007, played in a regional one time in 2008 and coached the two super regional teams, will get her first experience as part of the final eight teams.
Here's what Maier, Olague and
Raquel Jaime had to say after the Toros won the West.
Being sent out again for the second time, Olague got out of the first inning leaving a single on base. In Dominguez Hills' half of the inning,
Claudia Valencia was on second with two out when
Amara Labonog hit a line drive to left field to score in the first run.
The Cougars went quiet in the third but with a runner on first and one out in the fourth, Madison Waymire hit a hard fly ball to right field where
Alex Davis made a brilliant catch and threw to
Kaylee Hull at first base to get the runner for an inning-ending double play.
Davis' play ignited the Toros that they cashed in two more runs. With
Sydney Diaz pinch-running at first with two outs,
Katelyn Sturm, who came up clutch in game two, did so again by lining a RBI double to left center, coming up inches from hitting a home run. After Sturm advanced to third on a wild pitch,
Kaylee Hull came up and brought her home with another double to right center, giving Dominguez Hills a 3-0 lead.
Olague got out of the fifth inning surrendering a run but gave up a leadoff hit in the sixth, prompting Maier to call in
Ashley Wies from the bullpen. Wies surrendered two hits in two innings and was highlighted in the end by the freshman Labonog to make the final catch on a popup.
