_____________________
_____________________
April 20, 2026
By Loren Kopff • @LorenKopff on X
As schools were coming back from Spring Break and league action was resuming, a twist was put into the Gateway League race when La Mirada High was knocked off by Warren High 5-1 on Apr. 14, snapping a 19-game league winning streak the Matadores had. The loss created a four-way tie for first place when the Matadores hosted Gahr High last Thursday which featured a classic pitching matchup between juniors Bella Gonzalez (Gahr) and Alison Ortega (La Mirada).
But it was a fielder’s choice and an unfortunate bounce in the bottom of the seventh inning that allowed La Mirada to rally with two outs and come away with a hard fought 2-1 victory at Jennie Finch Field. The Matadores improved to 19-3, 3-1 while the Gladiators dropped to 12-10, 2-2.
“We always know we’re going to get everyone’s best; everybody’s up to play us and it was just a great game,” said La Mirada head coach Brent Tuttle. “It’s an old-school game; a 2-1 ballgame. You don’t see very many of those anymore, and it was just two great pitchers out there dealing.
“I’m proud of our defense; we got a couple of double plays where they got us out of some big jams,” he continued. “Ali kept us in the game and we just grinded and grinded and grinded.”
“First of all, there’s no way Bella deserves a loss in this game,” said Gahr head coach Rey Sanchez. “She was dialed in since Monday. We knew we had a tough week playing Mayfair [on Apr. 14] and obviously La Mirada is always a battle. So there’s no way she deserves…really either pitcher deserves to lose the game. I think Bella had her best stuff, and she executed pitches. It [came] down to we misplayed a fly ball, and we misplayed a ground ball. If we don’t misplay a fly ball, then we’re in a different position. As a defense, you can’t take a pitch off.”
Freshman second baseman Fatima Serna began the bottom of the seventh with a double to left field on a 1-1 count and was still at second with two outs. That’s when Gonzalez walked senior center fielder Bettie Mae Acevedo. That turned the lineup over to the top of the order where freshman left fielder Alanna Adams was safe on a fielder’s choice, made possible when Acevedo just beat the throw to second from Gahr sophomore shortstop Hazel Anglo, tying the game.
Then on a 1-2 count, junior shortstop Reese Hilliard lined a shot off senior first baseman Maryah McElroy’s leg, allowing Acevedo to score the game-winning run.
“We wanted to get the one because if we only got one, I liked where we were at in the lineup [as opposed to] where they were in their lineup in the eighth [inning],” said Tuttle. “Once we got the one and with Reese up and some of those girls [at the top of the lineup], it was like, okay now let’s look to win this thing right here.”
“The approach was we didn’t want to get to the leadoff hitter and turn the lineup over,” said Sanchez. “We wanted to attack [Acevedo] and make sure we got that hitter out. Unfortunately, she had a nice battle, and we lost her on a base on balls. At the same time, we had to be careful because she got a hit earlier in the game.”
As well as the two pitchers were dealing, both teams had multiple opportunities to score more than the three combined runs, and credit goes to Ortega for bouncing back after the Matadores lost to Warren. Ortega was wrapping up her Spring Break by flying back from Paris on the day of the game and was late arriving to Warren as she went straight from Los Angeles International Airport to the high school. By the time she entered the game, the Matadores were already trialing 2-1.
“That Warren loss was really hard, and it was hard for myself because I hadn’t pitch in nine days,” said Ortega. “I was just loose and obviously they were able to hit off me because I obviously wasn’t prepared. I was able to warm up, but I just got off an 11-hour plane ride, and I was so sleep deprived.”
Against the Gladiators, Ortega yielded a one-out double to junior center fielder Kayleigh Allen but would be stranded at third. In the next inning, junior right fielder Leah Magana singled to center with two outs and could not advance. Gahr’s lone tally came in the third and again, it was another two-out rally.
Allen singled to left and stole second and after sophomore second baseman Mylah Burrowes was intentionally walked, the first pitch Ortega threw to junior designated player Cierra Contreras went to center.
Gahr’s next big chance to add on came in the fifth as sophomore pinch hitter Maya Moreau singled and was forced at second on a fielder’s choice from sophomore third baseman Megan Wong. Allen then reached on an error and again, Ortega intentionally walked Burrowes to load the bases. But on the next pitch, Contreras hit into a 1-2-3 double play to keep it a 1-0 contest.
“It was a similar situation we were in before, other than the first situation was first and second,” said Sanchez. “We had bases loaded and Cierra, our [number] four hitter…she always takes good at-bats. Her timing was a little bit off; she was just a little bit late, enough to get over the ball to hit a comebacker [to Ortega].”
“You just have to play softball the way it is,” said Tuttle. “In that situation, it almost doesn’t matter who it is because they have speed. We don’t want to make a play at the plate; we just want to catch and throw and I told Riley [to] give me a ground ball back to third or first and you’re going to catch and throw [Contreras] out. That’s exactly what happened; Alison wore it like a champ. That play kept us in the game.”
Gahr would get two more runners on base in the sixth, but that rally came to an end when Ortega struck out freshman catcher Rylee Jackson. Meanwhile, Gonzalez was doing her part in handling a potent offensive attack that entered the game batting close to .400.
In the bottom of the first, Adams reached on an error and after striking out Hillard, walked junior catcher Riley Hillard. But a strikeout and a fielder’s choice ended La Mirada’s first chance of scoring. Gonzalez would allow two more singles and walked Riley Hilliard over the next five innings while striking out half a dozen more hitters.
“This game was pretty stressful as you can tell,” said Ortega. “It’s kind of hard for me as a pitcher because I like getting ahead in the game, and since they got ahead in the game, it really made me realize I needed to lock in for my team and to push through since they rely on me.”
For the game, Gahr had 12 baserunners, half reaching off hits with Allen collecting a pair while the Matadores, who were held to just three hits, had 10 baserunners with six reaching base before the seventh inning.
“Overall, I liked our battle against Alison, and I felt we came in with a pretty good gameplan,” said Sanchez. “We wanted the girls to make sure that they were calm in the box and be able to get the right pitches.
“I feel the intensity that we had in this game always elevates us and it gives us a little springboard into the playoffs,” he added. “I know what our at-bats can be like in intense situations. We could have gotten a few more hits, but I don’t mind facing tough pitchers like [Ortega] because it gets our kids ready. I think we’ll be fine; we’ll bounce back.”
The Gladiators have five games remaining in the regular season, four coming in league action, and the rematch with the Matadores will be on May 5. Gahr and La Mirada will each host Downey High and visit Mayfair High before the rematch. La Mirada also hosts Warren while Gahr makes a trip to Warren.
“They can go either way,” said Tuttle of the upcoming league games. “It’s going to be fun, and Warren is a decent team; they’re capable and Downey is capable. It could be fun when we play Gahr down at the end for [the league title] at their place.”
Beginning with the 2018 season when La Mirada was back in the Suburban League, it has gone 61-4 in league games and has had stretches of 35 straight and 19 straight league victories. The loss to Warren was the second of those four league setbacks to the Bears. The first was on Apr. 6, 2023 in a 3-1 affair.
“The sky can’t be falling over one loss,” said Tuttle. “It was just the perfect storm; we had a kid in Paris; and she came back right at game time from LAX. We had 21 outs and 20 of them were to the defense. The left fielder made some really great plays and we hit some shots to the shortstop. It was just one of those games; the bus was late, and we showed up late. Nothing went right for us that game.”
“I just need to work on communication and make sure everyone’s on the same page and just make sure there’s positive vibes because I feel like going into this game, there were a lot of negative [vibes] from our loss to Warren,” said Ortega. “Just getting that positive mindset and aligning myself to hit my spots and communicating with Riley on what pitch is best to those batters…I think that will get us to win these next games.”
Subscribe to get the latest posts sent to your email.