It wasn’t just sophomore pitcher Coral Williams (center) who shined for Norco in its CIFSS D1 title game win over El Modena on Saturday. At left is sophomore Sadie Burroughs and at right is sophomore Dillyn Eckenrod. Photo: Harold Abend / Cal-Hi Sports.
Sophomore pitcher Coral Williams plus big production from the bottom of the batting order leads state No. 1 Cougars to triumph over El Modena of Orange in CIF Southern Section D1 softball championship on Saturday in Irvine. It also avenged an earlier loss to the Vanguards from the Dave Kops TOC in Arizona.
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The old adage “pitching and defense” wins softball games was front and center in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 title game on Saturday night at the Deanna Manning softball field at Bill Barker Memorial Park in Irvine.
Cal-Hi Sports top-ranked Norco (29-3) did commit an error in the top of the first, but the rest of the defense was spotless, and sophomore pitcher and top D1 college recruit Coral Williams was even better after tossing a one-hit shutout in a 3-0 victory over No. 6-ranked El Modena of Orange.
Besides the hit from El Modena junior Kylie Tafua that came in the top of the sixth with two outs, Williams did walk one and a runner reached on an error, but she struck out nine and induced nine ground ball outs. The bottom line was once Norco put up a three-spot in the top of the fifth the outcome at that point seemed inevitable the way Coral was rolling along.
The win avenges a 5-4 loss to El Modena in the championship of the prestigious Dave Kops Tournament of Champions in Arizona. It also completes the cycle for Norco in getting wins over all three teams it lost to this season, with wins over Roosevelt (Eastvale) and Orange Lutheran (Orange) as well as El Modena.
“If you’re going to win one I’d rather win this one,” remarked Norco head coach Rick Robinson.
“We didn’t play a great game when we played them (El Modena) before, but we knew the way Coral was throwing lately she was going to be able to handle them,” Robinson continued. “I didn’t think she would handle them quite like she did, but her pitches were on. The biggest thing about her is when she missed she missed out of the strike zone.”
It wasn’t just the drop ball that was working, which on several occasions had El Modena batters awkwardly whiffing and missing, her change-up and rise ball were on as well.
“When we needed the rise ball we had it,” Robinson said.
It may very well have been the best performance ever in the circle by Wiliams and it came on the biggest softball stage and most prestigious playoff championship title game in the entire Golden State, and possibly the entire nation.
“This season we went back to our old style,” said Robinson. “Pitching and defense and then try to score some runs.”
Photographers and journalists were not allowed on the field at Deanna Manning Stadium after the CIFSS D1 final so there was only one official photo or two that was taken after Norco’s big win over El Modena. Photo: @NorcoHS_Sports / X.com.
Through the first four innings it was a pitcher’s duel between Williams and El Modena senior Sara Pinedo. Other than the error and walk, Williams retired the rest of the Vanguards and at one point with one out in the bottom of the second she struck out five straight batters.
Pinedo gave up a single to Boise State-bound Norco senior Tamryn Shorter on the game’s first pitch but she was thrown out trying to steal. From there, the Vanguards’ Loyola Marymount-bound Pinedo proceeded to retire nine of the next 10 batters with the first of two doubles by sophomore Dillyn Eckenrod in the top of the third the only blemish.
Things came apart for Pinedo in the fifth and came together for Norco. Sophomore Sadie Burroughs started the rally by smoking a one-out frozen rope that hit the left field fence for a double. Sophomore Savannah Gonzalez singled Burroughs home with what would be all the offense Williams would need. Eckenrod followed with her second double that plated Gonzalez. Eckenrod scored the game’s final tally when a sharp grounder to short took a bad hop and was misplayed.
In a bit of irony it wasn’t the big bats for Norco that came through but three sophomores that were somewhat unlikely heroes that came into the game hitting around .250 each.
“We’ve told them all year that what made this team good was the fact it didn’t have to be one part of the order or we didn’t have to rely on two or three hitters,” Robinson said. “It was a team effort for the whole thing this season.”
“Our team wasn’t really producing so I really wanted to come through and I did,” said Burroughs with a wide grin.
In the end, the real heroine was Williams, but she was more than willing to share in the glory.
“We knew from the beginning we would be here and we did it,” said a beaming Williams. “We’re not just a few players, we’re a team, and we came together and got it done as a team.”
It was the seventh title at Norco but the first since 2019 with the other five in 2003, 2009, 2012, 2015 and 2018. Overall, it was CIF Southern Section title No. 8 for Robinson who won in 1996 at Corona Centennial. With eight championships, it breaks a tie with Los Alamitos head coach Rob Weil, who won his seventh CIFSS championship on Friday with a 3-0 victory over JSerra (San Juan Capistrano) in the Division 2 title game.
Because Williams and a couple of other Norco players have travel ball commitments and would be unavailable for the CIF Southern Regional Division I championships, Norco has opted out with Robinson feeling that if every one of his players are not able to play than they should not play at all.
El Modena (22-9) will move on to the D1 Southern Regionals where as expected the Vanguards drew the top seed.
Harold Abend is the associate editor of CalHiSports.com and the vice president of the California Prep Sportswriters Association. He can be reached at marketingharoldabend@gmail.com. Don’t forget to follow him on Twitter: @HaroldAbend
