Softball wins two playoff games before loss to #1 Torrey Pines

Fallbrook High School’s softball team not only reached the CIF playoffs for the first time since 2002, but the Warriors won a CIF playoff game for the first time since a 1992 victory over Castle Park - and Fallbrook’s 2012 team won two CIF Division I playoff games before being eliminated by top seed and eventual CIF champion Torrey Pines.

“We’re very happy with how we did. No shame in losing to number one,” said Fallbrook co-coach Shannon Koran. “We’re just super proud of the girls.”

The Warriors’ 21-13 record included four games in the double-elimination playoffs as well as a 19-11 regular-season mark and a 6-4 figure in Avocado East League play which was worth third place in the standings.

“We were very happy with the season. We didn’t win Avocado League, but we gave a strong performance in our league,” said co-coach Patti Drew. “We’re really proud of the girls and all their accomplishments this season.”

Fallbrook was seeded 11th among the 12 teams which earned berths in the CIF Division I playoffs. The top four seeds received byes into the double-elimination rounds while the other eight teams had a single-elimination play-in game.

“I think we made a statement that we deserved to be higher than where we were,” Drew said of Fallbrook’s playoff wins.

Fallbrook spent part of May 16 at sixth-seeded Granite Hills for the play-in match. Sophomore shortstop Hailey Drew led off the game with a home run. “We came out right away,” Koran said.

The Warriors scored once more in the top of the first, but the Eagles tied the score with two runs in the bottom of the first. Fallbrook took a 3-2 lead with a run in the second before sending six runners across the plate in the third inning.

“We had a huge inning,” Koran said. “The girls just kind of relaxed a little bit and believed in what we were talking about all year.”

Fallbrook added a run in the fourth and one in the sixth for an 11-2 victory.

“We played really well,” Patti Drew said. “Everyone through the lineup hit the ball really well.”

Seven different Fallbrook players hit safely against Granite Hills. Fallbrook had a total of five hits in the Warriors’ 4-3 loss May 18 at third-seeded Poway.

“We were happy with how we played them,” Koran said. “It was a good game. We lost to a good team.”

“It wasn’t like we gave it to them,” Drew said. “We came up one run short unfortunately, but it was a great game. It was one of those games that could have gone either way.”

The loss placed Fallbrook in the losers’ bracket and gave the Warriors a May 19 contest at Mission Hills. Three runs in the bottom of the third gave the Grizzlies a 4-0 lead, but Fallbrook scored twice in the fourth to halve the deficit.

Fallbrook committed four errors during the game, and three of Mission Hills’ four runs were unearned. Koran notes that Fallbrook High School’s prom was the same day as the game at Mission Hills.

“I think we were a little bit out of it mentally,” she said. “It really shouldn’t have gone 11.”

A regulation game lasts seven innings. In the top of the seventh Hailey Drew doubled and scored on Kristin George’s double, but George was thrown out after reaching second. Kaylie Drew then homered to tie the game.

The game’s final run occurred in the top of the 11th inning. Kaylie Drew singled for her fourth hit of the game. Brittni Arena’s third hit of the game was a single to right center field which advanced Drew to third. Lauren Hirota then grounded out but scored Drew in the process. Mission Hills was then shut out for the eighth consecutive inning to give Fallbrook a 5-4 victory.

“It was a long game,” Koran said.

Patti Drew noted that the Warriors won two playoff games on the road.

“For any sport that’s a tough feat,” she said.

San Marcos won the Avocado East League championship with a 9-1 record while Mission Hills finished second at 8-2. The Warriors’ four league losses consisted of two apiece to San Marcos and Mission Hills.

“Felt really good to beat them after losing to them twice during league,” Drew said of the win over Mission Hills. “It was great to get it done when it really counted in the playoffs.”

The playoff game against Torrey Pines was played May 22 on the Falcons’ diamond. The Falcons scored once in the third and twice in the fourth while Torrey Pines senior Taylor Lee, who will continue her softball career at Cal, did not allow a hit during the first five innings.

April Mattson led off the sixth inning with a single to break up the no-hitter, and Drew then also singled. The Falcons responded by bringing in ace pitcher Rachel Nasland, who is a junior but who has given a verbal commitment to pitch for Notre Dame after she graduates from high school. George advanced the two Fallbrook runners, and Nasland pitched around Kaylie Drew to load the bases. Lizzy Hutzler then hit a ground ball up the middle which became a two-run single.

Hutzler was the last baserunner Nasland allowed, and the Falcons scored twice in the bottom of the sixth for a 5-2 victory.

“We kind of felt like we were just kind of right there,” Koran said.

“We were very happy with the way the girls played,” Patti Drew said. “We didn’t give it away. We played really well. They got a couple of key hits at the right time and they beat us.”

Drew also complemented Lee and Nasland. “They’re elite pitchers,” Drew said.

The win over Fallbrook was the 28th of the season for Torrey Pines, and 15 of those were shutouts. “We didn’t get shut out. We didn’t get no-hit,” Drew said. “We felt like that was a pretty big accomplishment.”

Kaylie Drew, George, Hutzler, and Cara Verdugo were the only seniors on Fallbrook’s 2012 team. “We have a whole bunch of kids that have been with us for three years that are going to come in right behind them,” Koran said.

Koran’s daughter, freshman Brooke Koran, was Fallbrook’s primary pitcher this year and finished with a 19-13 record. Shannon Koran noted that having Brooke Koran pitch for the Warriors not only gave the Fallbrook club a pitcher with club experience but also allowed Kaylie Drew to play third base regularly instead of having to share mound duties.

Bill Regal was Fallbrook’s coach when the Warriors last won a CIF playoff game.

“That’s an accomplishment,” Regal said of the 2012 team’s success. “I’m very happy for them.”

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