Chargers take third in tourney

Edison and Marina finished a week-long work week at the Woodbridge Tournament Saturday, and Edison came away with a third-place finish.

The Chargers capped their five-game tourney run with a 7-4 victory over North Torrance in the third-place game. Senior Emma Silvestri reached base in all three plate appearances, had two hits and two RBIs, and stole a base. Freshman Riley Wester went two for four, and sophomore Allie Greenburg doubled. Sophomore Kiana Pancino got the pitching win and ran her record to 5-4.

Edison (5-6 overall) had reached the tournament semifinals but lost there, 4-0, to La Mirada.

Riverside ML King (No. 5, Division 1) won the tournament, defeating La Mirada, 9-0, in Saturday’s title game.

Pancino and senior Lizabelle Talataina were named to the all-tournament team.

“The girls came together during the Woodbridge Tournament and the team is in a great place right now as we head into league,” Edison Coach Kim Ensey said.

Marina dropped its final two tournament games Saturday. The Vikings, who went into the weekend ranked second in CIF Southern Section Division 1, were edged, 1-0, by La Mirada, then fell, 6-1, to El Modena.

The Vikings were without pitching ace Tera Blanco who Coach Shelly Luth said was out Saturday due to illness.

Senior Sydney McCollum represented Marina on the all-tourney team.

Edison and Marina opened Sunset League play against one another Tuesday. That score, as well as scores from other openers between Huntington-Newport Harbor, and Fountain Valley-Los Alamitos, weren’t available at press time.

Sunset games on tap Thursday are Newport Harbor at Edison (3:15 p.m.), Marina at Los Alamitos (3:15 p.m.), and Fountain Valley at Huntington (6 p.m.).

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•Ocean View has had its way with Santa Ana on the softball diamond the past several years. When the teams met Friday, it appeared that this meeting could be different than past games between the Seahawks and Saints. This year’s Santa Ana team came into the Golden West League opener with a different vibe, the result of starting the 2014 season 13-0.

In the end, no, make that after two innings, it was still Ocean View’s game.

The Seahawks scored four runs in each of the first two innings and cruised the rest of the way in a 9-1 victory. Santa Ana couldn’t overcome the early deficit, scoring its only run late in the game en route to its first loss.

The Seahawks, ranked second in CIF Southern Section Division 4, put the ball in play against Saints ace Celeste Hernandez who came into the matchup with a 12-0 record and ERA of 0.4. They sent 17 batters to the plate in the first two innings, getting their first eight runs on five hits and four walks, and took advantage of a few Saints fielding errors to jump out to a big lead.

By the top of the third, Ocean View (13-3) had scored three more runs than the Saints had given up in any of their first 13 games.

The Seahawks ran their win streak to seven games.

“We’ve pretty much had some easy wins against Santa Ana in the past, but they came into today’s game playing with confidence,” Ocean View Coach Mike McLaughlan said. “We knew they were better than they had been the past few years because of their pitching (Hernandez). She was having a great start to the season.”

Ocean View junior pitcher Billie Derleth tamed Santa Ana. Derleth didn’t give up a hit until the fourth, a lead-off single by Hernandez, and surrendered her only other hit in the top of the sixth, a two-out RBI single.

Derleth struck out the side in the fifth and finished with 10 strikeouts. She walked four and sent the Saints down in order in the seventh to notch her seventh win in improving to 7-1.

“Billie has been on fire this year,” McLaughlan said. “She pitched a really good game today and didn’t give [Santa Ana] much.”

Junior Jade Bustamonte started the scoring with an RBI sacrifice fly in the bottom of the first. Junior Anika Ortiz singled to right to bring in two more runs, and Ortiz later scored on a fielding error for a 4-0 lead.

In the second inning, junior Olivia Russ, who had singled to ignite Ocean View’s opening inning rally, dropped a double down the left-field line to start another four-run rally, later scoring on a wild pitch. Bustamonte hit a sacrifice grounder back to the mound to drive in another run, and two more runs were scored on Santa Ana errors.

Ocean View scored its final run in the bottom of the sixth when Derleth doubled off the fence in left field, took third on a throwing error on the play, and tagged and scored on Bustamonte’s sacrifice fly to left field.

“I thought we were very productive,” McLaughlan said.

Ocean View resumes Golden West League play Friday, hosting Loara in a key league matchup.

In its last four games, Ocean View has outscored its opponents, 37-3.

“We’ve been playing very well this past week, and we have a tough one coming up against Loara,” McLaughlan said. “We will need to play one of our best games against Loara, if we hope to come away with a win.”

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CIF Weekly Rankings

Softball: Marina (No. 6, Division 1); Huntington Beach (No. 7, Division 1); Ocean View (No. 2, Division 4).