Del Norte shuts out Mater Dei Catholic, advances to Open Division softball final against Poway

There are four freshmen and three sophomores in the starting lineup for Mater Dei Catholic High School's softball team, and the Crusaders lost only five games this year.

Three times, Del Norte provided the kryptonite.

“It seems like it,” said Mike Centrullo, who has won eight San Diego Section championships in his 25 years coaching Mater Dei. “You can’t win if you can’t score.”

Jessica Phelps saw to that on Tuesday, tossing a one-hitter and getting a monster home run from sophomore Lainey Llamas as host and No. 2 seed Del Norte shut out No. 3 Mater Dei 3-0 in the CIF San Diego Section Open Division semifinals.

The Nighthawks (23-5) advanced to play top-seeded and defending champion Poway (23-6-1) in the Open Division championship at 7 p.m. Saturday at UCSD. Poway defeated No. 8 San Marcos (18-14), 5-1, in Tuesday’s other semifinal. Mater Dei finished 27-5, having lost to Del Norte 4-3 in March and 1-0 in the first round of the playoffs.

Phelps, who is headed to play at Princeton, pitched a two-hitter in that playoff game.

On Tuesday, the senior right-hander yielded only a clean single to right field by the second batter of the game, Michelle Cervantes. Phelps (12-1, 1.09 ERA) quickly got out of the inning as Gigi Flores lined into an unassisted double play by Miranda Mosqueda (Hamilton College).

“I did not realize that was a one-hitter,” Phelps said. “I’m just so focused on doing my job and getting the next girl out.”

Flores led of the fourth inning with a walk but was erased on a double play — shortstop Julia Montemayor to Mosqueda to Lauren Rozell (UC Santa Barbara). Phelps struck out one, walked four and retired the final 10 batters she faced thanks to a diving stop and throw by Llamas in the seventh.

“Winning the championship has been our goal since the first day,” Llamas said. “It’s going to be awesome.”

Del Norte took a 1-0 lead in the third. Montemayor beat out a swinging bunt, sophomore Brooklyn Giaime singled to left and freshman Ava Giaime singled to right to drive in Montemayor.

In the fourth, Llamas hit a towering homer over the 15-foot left-field fence to make it 2-0.

Like everyone watching, “I knew it was gone,” Llamas said of her fourth homer. “I kind of watched it a little bit. That was fun. That was no doubt.”

The Nighthawks made it 3-0 in the fifth. Brooklyn Giaime beat out an infield single, and Ava Giaime blasted a double high off the center-field fence, missing her second HR by about four feet. Mosqueda then singled to center to score Brooklyn Giaime.

With two hits apiece, Llamas and the Giaime sisters had six of the eight hits off Mater Dei starter Arri Romero. The freshman finishes with an 11-3 record and 1.19 ERA.

“Mater Dei’s a great team,” Del Norte coach Amanda Nelson said. “You can’t take anything away from them. We always play great games with them. They’re always clean games, too.”

Del Norte, which won its first 12 games, has never won a section softball title and split two Palomar League games with Poway this season.

“It’ll be fun,” Nelson said. “It’s always interesting playing a league opponent in the final.

“We’re ready. I’ve never seen a group that works so hard and has so much fun playing or practicing the game.”

Lindgren is a freelance writer.

This story originally appeared in San Diego Union-Tribune .