Players and coaches from Mater Dei Catholic of Chula Vista celebrate after they captured second straight CIF SoCal D1 regional championship on Saturday. Photo: Harold Abend / Cal-Hi Sports.
Coaches at Chula Vista school tell their players “not to bother” trying out for their team if they can’t commit to playing as late as the CIF SoCal regional playoffs. On Saturday, with University of Arizona commit Arri Romero leading the way, the Crusaders won the CIF SoCal D1 regional title for the second straight year with a 3-1 win over La Habra.
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The theme of the this year’s CIF Southern Regional Division I softball playoffs was “opt out” or “opt in” and with the rigors of travel ball seeming to rule the roost, it caused the No. 2 and No. 3 teams in the Cal-Hi Sports state rankings, JSerra and Norco, to opt out. Plus, it even caused another team that opted in, No. 8 Murrieta Mesa, to forfeit after travel ball reduced its ability to have a playable roster.
However, one participant selected to the field has not played by those rules the last two seasons and that team is current No. 4 ranked Mater Dei Catholic of Chula Vista.
Now, after a somewhat dominant 3-1 win over No. 7 La Habra on Saturday afternoon, it’s host Mater Dei (31-3) that adds a second straight SoCal D1 title after getting a second consecutive CIF San Diego Section Open Division title last week with a 5-3 win over San Diego Pt. Loma.
Arri Romero delivers pitch for Mater Dei Catholic. The junior committed to Arizona hopes to pitch next season in the first ever CIF state softball championship. Photo: Harold Abend.
“From the beginning, from day one when we’re doing our tryouts, we make it clear that if you can’t be here on June 6 and can’t commit all the way through don’t even bother to come out for the team,” said Mater Dei co-head coach Mike Centrullo, the 2022 State Coach of the Year who holds the title with wife Liz Cenrtullo, who coaches third base.
It’s not like Mater Dei doesn’t have its share of Division I college recruits on the roster, something travel ball likes to think it has a total monopoly on, and three of those players came up big for the Crusaders on Saturday.
Arizona-committed junior right-handed pitcher and slugger Arri Romero got it done in the circle and at the plate. She gave up just three hits and two walks with four strikeouts and one questionable run after going all the way to improve to 27-3 on the season with a 1.06 ERA. Romero retired the first 12 batters before giving up a single to UConn-committed La Habra junior Mireya Gonzalez to open the top of the fifth. Romero also had one of only two extra base hits in the game with a double in the bottom of the sixth that just missed becoming her sixth home run of the season.
Romero opened the bottom of the first by singling off the first pitch by La Habra Holy Cross-bound senior Madison Payne. Her pinch runner, junior Christina Gonzalez, came around to score on a sacrifice fly by University of Redlands-bound senior Gianna ‘Gigi” Flores that for most of the game looked like the only run Romero would need. Romero finished 2-for-4 at the plate.
All in all, Mater Dei rapped out 14 hits off Payne. Another Crusaders’ star to come up big was UCLA-committed junior Charlize ‘Chuck’ Masingale. She went 3-for-3 with a double and an RBI single that plated Cal Baptist-bound senior Isabella ‘Bella’ Harris to give Mater Dei a 2-0 lead in bottom of the third. Junior Sunny Sosa was also 3-for-3 and followed Masingale with an RBI single that drove in Flores to give Mater Dei a 3-0 lead.
According to Orange County Register scribe Dan Albano, La Habra (25-9) came into the game cherishing the underdog role and with a “why not us” attitude.
The Highlanders finally broke through in the top of the seventh with a disputed run. After Romero walked sophomore Eliana Corona and Siena-bound senior Alyssa Hernadez reached on a fielder’s choice, Romero got the second out on a grounder but then walked Dartmouth-bound senior Georgia Rickenbacker to put runners on first and second. Redlands-bound senior Milee Valencia singled towards the left-centerfield gap but as Hernandez scored Mater Dei junior left fielder Anabelle Gallegher made a perfect throw to third to get Rickenbacker to end the game.
It was close but Hernandez appeared to score before the out was recorded. The announcer said 3-1 was the final, Albano agreed and on MaxPreps it shows an RBI single by Valencia but was reported as a 3-0 shoutout.
Either way, Mater Dei and Romero cherished the win.
“We worked hard to get the top seed and we deserved it,” Romero remarked. “We know once the season starts we are staying here and this is something we commit to.”
For Romero, she becomes the first pitcher to win two games in a CIF Southern Regional championship final after throwing a six-hitter with nine strikeouts in a 12-3 win last year over El Modena of Orange.
Since she’s a junior and other key players will be back for the Crusaders, their post-season quest may last one game longer next season. The CIF will be conducting its first-ever state championship games in softball (likely location in Fresno area to coincide with baseball and since CIF state track finals already are there). If it was happening this year, MD Catholic would be playing 31-0 Destiny Christian of Sacramento next for that title. It will be next year, though, and it’s safe to say the Crusaders won’t be opting out, but most still don’t know what the top CIFSS programs are going to do.
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
