Titanic comeback: Poway scores 6 times in final inning for Open Division softball title

Alexis Huey’s walk off two-run double with two outs in the bottom of seventh capped a six-run inning to give the Poway a thrilling 6-5 victory over Del Norte in the CIF San Diego Section Open Division final at UCSD Saturday night.

With the win, the reigning Southern California Division 1 champion Titans (24-6-1) become the first back-to-back Open Division champions.

“I just wanted to hit it hard, get it in play and not be the one to make the last out,” said Huey, who finished went 1-for-3 with two walks. “They like to pitch me outside, so I didn’t try to do too much with it, just go with it.”

Huey’s second walk led off the seventh, getting the train rolling. Clemson-bound catcher Sophia Burmeister then doubled her home for the first Poway run of the night.

Cal-bound Mya McGowan singled to center and pitch-hitter McKenna Hunting walked, knocking Del Norte’s Princeton-bound pitcher, Jessica Phelps, out of the game.

Reliever Brooklyn Giaime came in and got the first two hitters out. Karissa Knapp came up with one of the key at bats of the game. Her 11-pitch at bat ended with a two run double to cut the lead to 5-4.

A walk and hit-by-pitch knocked Giaime out, setting up Huey’s dramatic finish against UCSD-bound Lauren Rozell. Huey’s double to right center sent all the Poway fans home happy.

“I wouldn’t say it was all me,” said the junior first baseman, who also got the walk-off hit in last year’s final against Rancho Bernardo. “I wouldn’t have even gotten up if it wasn’t for my teammates.”

Phelps was rolling along with a 5-0 shutout, scattering seven hits and leaving 10 runners on base.

“I wouldn’t say we were frustrated, we were putting a lot of runners on base and that’s a good thing,” said Poway veteran coach Jim Bennet. “Our goal is to play for all 21 outs and we hadn’t gotten there yet.”

Del Norte (23-6) struck first in the opening inning. Laney Llamas drew a one-out walk and came all the way around to score on Jessica Phelps two-hop double to right center.

The Nighthawks increased their lead in the third. Alexis Kyles led off with a single and came around to score on Llamas’ ground ball up the middle which rolled all the way to the wall for an RBI double. Alexa Brunetti then cleared the bases with a two-run home run over the right field fence for a 4-0 lead.

Del Norte added what was believed to be an all-important insurance run in the top of the seventh inning. Lauren Rozell and Miranda Mosqueda led off with singles, were sacrificed over by Kyles and scored on RBI by Llamas, her second of the night, for a 5-0 advantage.

“I’m so proud of my girls,” said Del Norte coach Amanda Nelson. “We were so resilient all year and I knew we could win. They just got on a roll in the seventh and we tried everything.”

It was the fifth walk-off victory of the year for the Titans.

This story originally appeared in San Diego Union-Tribune .