Prep softball: San Marin claims second consecutive MCAL title

San Marin High’s Amanda Postel had already won one playoff game with her bat this week so when her moment came in Thursday’s MCAL championship game against Marin Catholic, she was ready for it.

Marin Catholic intentionally walked Leah Cronin with an open base at first to get to Postel, San Marin’s No. 7 hitter, in a tie game with two outs in the bottom of the sixth. Postel hit a ball up the left-field line that got past third base and into the outfield – the play was ruled an error – to score the winning run in a 2-1 victory.

“I was hitting really well at the beginning of the season,” Postel said. “I was leading our average at the beginning then I just went through this slump. I don’t know what it was these last two weeks, I picked it up and had these hits that got us out of sticky situations.”

Postel had two run-scoring hits in the MCAL semifinal on Tuesday against Archie Williams – including the eventual game winner to make it 4-3. She also blasted a double to the center-field wall in her previous at-bat against Marin Catholic.

“I was definitely excited when they walked Leah because that’s just another runner on base, another scoring opportunity,” Postel said. “But once I got excited about Leah being up to bat that means ‘Oh shoot, I’m up to bat now.’ But same thing as (Tuesday), same thing as I always do, I always look for my pitch and if I see something I like I just attack it.”

San Marin (18-6) closed out the victory in the top of the seventh with a strikeout by pitcher Taylor Testa, a catch in center field by Cronin, then Postel caught a line drive at second base to trigger the celebrations for the home team.

“It feels incredible,” senior shortstop Lauren Fong said. “I could not be more happy to have gotten this win with this team. We have tried so hard during the season, taking our losses and picking up each other and learning from every game and just fighting through this whole season to get here.”

San Marin celebrated a MCAL championship on its home field for the second consecutive season. The Mustangs won from the No. 4 seed last season but entered the postseason this year as the No. 1 seed after finishing the regular season as co-champions with Redwood.

Starting pitchers Testa and MC’s Malliah Foster both turned in strong performances and limited the opposition to four hits in the game.

San Marin didn’t have a hit until the third inning when No. 9 hitter Samantha Whitlock got a one-out rally started with a looper into left field.

“(Whitlock has) done that a lot this season,” San Marin coach Samantha Tong said. “She kind of flies under the radar but she’s like our secret weapon out there because she does put the ball in play and when she does its pretty solid contact.”

Arianna Mendoza followed with San Marin’s second hit then Avery Bishop came up with the third, hitting a ball down the left-field line to score Whitlock for a 1-0 lead.

“The last couple of weeks (Bishop has) been clutch for us putting the ball in play, making things happen and helping this team out big time,” Tong said.

MC (16-7) was given some life when No. 9 hitter Lyla Gonzalez reached on an error with two outs in the top of the fifth inning to bring leadoff hitter Morgan Carlson to the plate. Carlson had made strong contact in her first two at-bats – a single into center field and a line out to Fong at shortstop.

Carlson made great contact again, hitting a triple into left field to tie the game at 1-1.

“It’s really easy to lose focus, especially when you give up a good hit,” Testa said. “Morgan is one of my really close friends. She’s one of the best hitters I know. She’s really good so coming up I knew I had to be careful and obviously I wasn’t careful enough.”

Testa bounced back and was lights out in the late innings again, retiring the last seven batters she faced after Carlson to close the game out.

“Taylor, I could not be happier with the way she pitched,” Fong said. “I’m so happy to be on her team and proud to have her back on offense and defense.”

Testa, a sophomore, has been the winning pitcher in the MCAL title game in each of her two seasons in the league. Coach Tong also has two titles in two years at the helm for San Marin.

Both Testa and Foster pitched to contact and let their defenses work behind them. Testa had three strikeouts in the game and Foster had one.

San Marin got a number of strong plays defensively, particularly from the left side of the infield – third baseman Mendoza and Fong.

MC also turned in some strong defensive plays, highlighted by Vivian Partain turning an unassisted double play at first base to end the second inning, plus a jumping catch in center field by Carlson in the bottom of the fifth to rob Tessa Christian of extra bases.