EAST VS. WEST ALL-STAR SOFTBALL GAME: Quartet of La Mirada players display talents against best of Inland Empire

From left to right: sophomore Riley Hilliard, sophomore Alison Ortega, senior Amanda Urbina and sophomore Reese Hilliard. Photo by Loren Kopff.

June 4, 2025

By Loren Kopff • @LorenKopff on X

The final score may not have been what four La Mirada High softball players wanted as they put an end to the 2025 season, but it’s about the memories they can put in their scrapbook. The second annual East vs. West All-Star softball game was held at Jennie Finch Field this past Monday evening and despite the 15-1 outcome that made the East team winners, there were plenty of laughs on the field and in the dugouts.

“I was talking [to the other coaches] and we’ve done it in colleges and stuff, and this field is probably as nice as any college around here,” said La Mirada head coach Brent Tuttle. “It’s a great setting and it’s the halfway point between [all these schools]. Everyone has to travel to come to La Mirada; there’s no easy way here. The atmosphere is awesome; right now, you can’t beat this. No matter what it is, you have great players out there.”

Tuttle said he notified senior infielder Amanda Urbina, sophomore outfielder Reese Hilliard, sophomore catcher Riley Hilliard and sophomore pitcher Alison Ortega at the team banquet, whom he nominated, that they had been selected to participate in the game.

Prior to the game, a home run derby contest involving four players from the East, which consisted of Inland Empire high schools and four from the West, took place. All eight participants, including Urbina, combined to smack over 110 home runs this past season, including 11 from Urbina.

She was the fourth participant, second from the West, to take her 10 swings in which half of them cleared the fence. After the first round, she and Charli Moreno of South Hills High advanced to the next round with five home runs while Aubry McLaughlin (eight home runs) of Roosevelt High and Alyssa Torres (seven home runs) of Valley View High of the East and had enough to move to the second round.

Urbina was first up and after not clearing the fence on her first five swings, she hit the next two and the 10^th one out of the park. She and Moreno were involved in a swing-off where Urbina hit the first three over the fence, good enough to move to the finals against McLaughlin. The Roosevelt star, who had 16 home runs in the regular season, went first and hit nine home runs while Urbina managed a third of that.

“I came to school one day and Tuttle asked if I was ready to compete in the home run derby, and I was like, ‘oh yeah, I’m down’,” she recalled. “I had a great competition. I was staying calm and just letting my hands go.”

“We could have had Amanda in it, we could have had Riley in it,” said Tuttle. “Riley is dealing a with a little hand thing right now. But Amanda has been our solid home run hitter for years. You saw what she did [in the playoffs] against [Ayala High] in the last game. She wanted to do it and during practice, she hit 13, 14, 15 in a row. But when you have 200-plus people watching you, it’s a little different.”

La Mirada hit 49 home runs this past season, all coming from the starting nine players who all appeared in either 27, 28, 29 or all 30 games. Urbina, who will be going to the University of Oregon, was the leader of the Matadores during the season.

Shortly after the completion of the home run derby, West starting pitcher Liliana Escobar of JSerra High got Torres to ground out to Urbina before striking out Taelyn Holley of Murrieta Mesa High and McLaughlin. In the bottom of the first, Peyton May of Norco High hit Orange Lutheran High’s Kai Minor on the second pitch. After she stole second, May walked Urbina, who would then be forced out at second as Mia Gomez (Agoura High) was safe, and Riley Hilliard to load the bases.

But Moreno struck out and Reese Hilliard fouled out to end the early threat. After that, it went downhill for the West squad. The East scored five runs in the top of the second, highlighted by a grand slam from Cheri Thompson of Martin Luther King High.

Nine batters came to the plate before Ortega replaced Escobar and on one pitch, got Melody Acevedo of Hillcrest High to ground out. But in the next inning, Ortega allowed singles to Camrynn Gordon (Murrieta Mesa) and Leata Sherlin (Corona Centennial High) before King’s Gianna Gusman launched a home run to make it 8-0. Those three hitters faced a combined five pitches from Ortega,  

“The first three batters; it was definitely tough,” said Ortega. “It gave me the chance to realize that I needed to work more on my corners and work on my spins more. Once I did, I was able to produce the pop flies and ground balls. But unfortunately, we made some errors, which is okay. It happens to everyone, and I was able to get the strikeout, which closed out the inning.

“It’s been definitely amazing,” she later said of her time in the game. “I’ve been able to get to know each one of them and I was able to realize what their strength was. I’m in a good spot; I’m in a good high school and I’m happy where I’m at right now.”

“I think our coaches were telling us too that the scoreboard doesn’t even matter; it’s just a game to have fun,” said Urbina. “It’s the last game in these uniforms, so we were all just trying to have fun, no matter what the score was.”

After the home run, three of the next five batters reached on errors and with two outs, two more errors were committed. Ortega pitched an inning and a third, gave up seven runs with three being earned, allowed four hits, walked one and struck out one. She would be replaced with Los Altos High’s Kaylahni Duenas.

The lone tally for the West came in the third inning when Gomez, who was the named the offensive player of the game, hit a home run over the left field fence. It was one of five hits her team would get. However, after her home run, East pitchers would give up three hits, walk one and strike out eight batters amongst the final 19 batters they faced.

“This experience has been really fun, especially since my freshman year,” said Ortega. “I wasn’t playing because [senior Montserrat Reyes-Cardenas] was pitching; she was the starter. But since she was struggling [this past season], it gave me the power to come up and take leadership. And to be here at the all-star game has given me the chance to prove myself and to just make myself known.

“Tuttle was set on Monse starting,” she later said. “I was ready for her to pitch most of the games like she did last year because she’s committed to San Diego State University and she’s a phenomenal pitcher, one of the best I’ve ever seen. So, I initially thought that this year was probably going to be like last year where I pitched some games.”

La Mirada went 25-5 this past season and despite graduating a dozen players, Tuttle knows he will have enough talent returning next season to have another outstanding season and make a deep run in the CIF-Southern Section playoffs. There were five sophomores, three freshmen and two juniors on the team which will be centered around the Hilliard sisters, Ortega, junior Bettie Mae Acevedo and freshman Juliana Rivera.

“It means a lot,” said Urbina of her time at La Mirada. “Both my cousins came through here and I knew at a young age I was going to be here. It’s been the best four years of my life. I created lifelong friends here and I played with my best friends, and I know I’m going to keep them for the rest of my life.”

“They deserved this,” said Tuttle of his four La Mirada representatives in the all-star game. “The year they had…Alison stepped up when needed and the Hilliard’s are the Hilliard’s and they’re going to be the Hilliard’s. They deserved it and then Amanda. We’re fortunate that we had a really good senior group and now we’re fortunate to have three really good sophomores, and I think we had a really good freshmen group coming in. So, we’ll see.”