May 21, 2025
By Loren Kopff • @LorenKopff on X
La Mirada High’s softball team scored early against Ayala High, and in the seventh inning to send the game into extra frames during its CIF-Southern Section Division 1 quarterfinal contest at Jennie Finch Field. But in between, the Matadores were stymied by Allie Lukaszewicz while the Bulldogs chipped away, tied the game, then took a lead before winning in extra innings.
Ayala, the fourth-seeded team in the division, collected four hits, took advantage of an outfield blunder and scored four times in the ninth inning to knock out the Matadores 9-5 this past Wednesday. La Mirada finishes one of its finest seasons at 25-5.
Sophomore pitcher Alison Ortega seemed to have set the tone by throwing four pitches in the first inning, then watched her offense score three runs in the bottom half of the frame on three hits. Senior shortstop Amanda Urbina, headed to the University of Oregon, was hit by a pitch and sophomore first baseman Reese Hilliard singled to center. Two batters later, senior third baseman Angelyna Conde, a Texas Tech University commit, doubled down the left field line to drive in a pair of runs. That was followed by a base hit from senior second baseman Alyssa Avila, who is headed to Duke University, bringing in Conde for the third run.
“We did what we were supposed to do,” said La Mirada head coach Brent Tuttle. “Our top of the lineup has been solid all year long, and we got those three [runs]. Then their pitching settled down a little bit and held us down and it was five scoreless innings. We did what we had to do in the seventh to put us in a good situation. We just didn’t get the job done.”
After Lukaszewicz retired 15 of 17 batters from the second inning to the sixth and got the first two outs in the seventh, junior right fielder Bettie Mae Acevedo singled to left on a full count and Urbina smacked a home run over the left field fence on a 1-2 count to tie game. Hilliard then got her second base hit of the game before sophomore catcher Riley Hilliard, her twin who is 30 seconds younger, struck out to send the game into extra innings.
Lukaszewicz retired all six batters she faced in extra innings while the Bulldogs teed off on senior pitcher Montserrat Reyes-Cardenas in the ninth. The future San Diego State University athlete gave up a one-out single to Taelor Walker and a double to McKenzie Becerra. Following a groundout, the wheels came off as Jocelyn Escobedo singled to center, then a ball hit to shallow center by Jordyn Balingit dropped in between a pair of players, allowing two more runs to score. Two pitches later, Viviana Jilek completed the rally with a double to left, driving in Balingit for the last run of the game.
As good as Ortega was in the first two innings, getting ahead 0-2 on the first four batters she faced in the second, she was the opposite in the third. She fell behind 2-0 in the count to the first four batters she faced but only yielded a one-out home run to Jayden Tamura.
The Bulldogs would get six hits and strand five runners on base from the second inning through the fifth inning. But in the sixth, Ayala tied the game when Lilianna Acosta reached on an error and pinch runner Zoey Hipolito scored on a double from Escobedo and took the lead in the seventh when Becerra hit her team-leading seventh home run, a two-run shot off Reyes-Cardenas.
“Their hitters are good; their three-four-five are tough hitters,” said Tuttle. “She hung a pitch and [Becerra] hit that home run in the seventh. But other than that, I thought [Reyes-Cardenas] did a good job. We had that miscommunication [in the outfield] and that just really flips the script there, being down four versus being down one.”
Ortega pitched the first six innings, throwing 92 pitches and allowing eight hits while walking one and striking out one before Reyes-Cardenas came in to begin the seventh.
Tuttle said he and his coaching staff was going by feel when the pitching change was made. The two combined to give up 16 hits, the most any opponent has collected on La Mirada this season.
The Matadores were limited to seven hits with Avila also getting a pair. But the offense grounded out 10 times and struck out five times after the first inning. Five other outs were recorded by the outfielders.
“We were hitting the ball,” said Tuttle. “It’s just they made great plays. Their shortstop is tough; she made a lot of good plays. They played good defense.”
Before the Ayala game, the Matadores had let a 3-0 first inning lead evaporate three times, only to rally for a victory. It happened against La Cueva High on Mar. 8 in the final game of the Dave Kops Tournament of Champions Tournament, Apr. 1 at Gahr High in a wild 16-8 affair and Apr. 10 at Downey, an 8-7 victory. This was also the first time since 2022 La Mirada had advanced past the first round of the playoffs.
“It was a really good team,” said Tuttle. “Most of these girls have been with me for four years and I’ll be seeing them play on [television], hopefully pretty soon here. It’s been a really good run with them, and I couldn’t be prouder of any group of kids.
“It’s a great season,” he continued. “There’s only one team that can win it all. You can’t dwell on your last game. It comes down to only four teams beating us this year. We lost to [Orange Lutheran] twice, and then Norco and Millikan and now a good Ayala team.”
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