King softball defeats Agoura to reach CIF-SS finals for first time in 20 years

AGOURA HILLS — ML King softball will be making its first CIF Southern Section championship appearance in 20 years after beating Agoura 14-6 in the Division 3 semifinals Saturday afternoon.

“We don’t talk about wins and losses much,” King coach Lana Carlone said. “It’s all about just playing our best, playing together, playing for each other.”

King will play Etiwanda in the championship game Saturday, May 18.

Carlone is in her first year as head coach for the Wolves, who got a major boost from sophomore Brooke Lebsock’s three runs and four hits, which included a two-run, over-the-fence home run in the sixth inning.

“We really came together,” Lebsock said. “Last year we didn’t make it too far. But this year, we’ve really gotten close and made it really far. I’m really proud of the girls for that.”

Janai Davis-Stover’s groundout brought in the first run for King in the first inning and the Wolves added seven runs in the second inning. Davis-Stover hit a two-run double, Karsyn Sanchez hit an RBI double and Kayla Penor hit an RBI single.

Cheri Thompson drove in two runs with a single and Lebsock finished off the scoring in the inning with an RBI double.

“Going into the season, we told them our pitchers were going to need their help,” Carlone said. “I’ve got three pitchers, I don’t have an ace. They all get their innings, they’ve all gotten us here, and we tell them all the time, they need run support.”

Agoura’s Mia Gomez (2 for 3) revived her team’s offense with a two-run double in the third inning. The Chargers got two more runs off of Jordy Charash’s two-run single in the fifth inning, showing the top of the order’s reliability when it comes to scoring runs as well as the heart of the entire team.

“I’ve never had a group that literally just didn’t want to leave each other,” Agoura coach Chance Redmond said. “That’s special. And that’s why we’re here. That’s why we maybe won a game or two that we probably shouldn’t have won. They put us in this position because they’re just like, I want to go another week.”

King scored three more runs in the fourth inning on a sacrifice groundout by Davis-Stover, a sacrifice fly by Lynnette Vu and an RBI single by Thompson.

Back-to-back home runs by Lebsock and Penor gave the Wolves a 14-4 advantage in the sixth inning.

“I just got up there and I just saw a pitch high and inside and I took it,” Lebsock said. “It felt good to have my team’s back and and then Kayla got up there and hit a home run, too, so it was really cool.”

Amaya Del Olmo had one more hit in the final inning with a two-run double.

Del Olmo is one of many returning underclassmen on a close-knit Agoura team that is losing only one senior to graduation.

“These kids love each other and it’s the reason why we overachieved,” Redmond said, “because they just kept fighting for each other.”

More scores from Saturday

Viewpoint 2, Canyon Springs 0

Paraclete 2, Orange Vista 0

JW North 11, Chaminade 5