Kennedy Shuts Down Mater Dei

Michelle Turner pitched her 15th shutout in her last 16 games, but had to get out of a seventh-inning jam as La Palma Kennedy High beat third-seeded Santa Ana Mater Dei, 2-0, Tuesday at Cypress Arnold Park in a Southern Section Division II semifinal softball game.

The victory sets up an all-Empire League championship this weekend at Barber Park in Irvine. Kennedy (24-5-1) will play league runner-up El Dorado, which got a two-hitter from Amanda Watkins to beat Whittier California, 3-0. Mater Dei finished 26-6.

Against Turner (23-4) in the seventh, Mater Dei loaded the bases with no outs, but a force at home, a line drive to left field and a ground ball to third sent Kennedy to its first title game since 1988.

Kennedy managed only three hits against Riki Paredes (10-3). Breanne Sabol doubled and scored on a two-out error in the first inning, and Jennifer McCard singled and scored on Brooke Porter’s grounder up the middle in the fourth inning.

Martin Henderson

Dana Hills 3, Camarillo 1--Reliever Allison Cohen (15-1) induced a one-out, bases-loaded double-play in the fourth inning to protect a 2-1 lead, and second-seeded Dana Hills (25-7-1) advanced to the Division I final against Etiwanda, a 2-0 winner over Corona Santiago.

Orange El Modena 4, Laguna Hills 3--Winning pitcher Lindsay Klein tripled, and her pinch-runner, Chelsea Golub, scored on a two-out fielding error in the top of the 16th inning to send second-seeded El Modena (28-5) into the Division III finals against Riverside King.

El Modena scored twice in the 14th on a two-run single by Ariana Munoz, but third-seeded Laguna Hills (26-5) tied it on Erica Corley’s two-run single.

Orange Lutheran 9, Irvine Northwood 0--Maggie Davidson pitched a two-hitter, and Tiffany Worthy hit a two-run triple for visiting Orange Lutheran (26-6), which will play Oak Park, a 1-0 winner over Anaheim Western, for the Division IV title.