The562’s coverage of Long Beach Poly is sponsored by Bryson Financial.
There may have been nerves for the Long Beach Poly softball team, but never a doubt.
The Jackrabbits fell behind early against Harvard-Westlake in the CIF-SS Division 4 semifinals and had to weather a strong five-run rally by the Wolverines in the seventh inning. But the Jackrabbits never lacked belief through all the adversity, hanging on for a 13-12 victory.
With the win, Poly punches its ticket to the CIF-SS championship game next weekend where they’ll face Warren on either Friday or Saturday. A CIF-SS title would mark the first in program history.
“You saw me burning my tread in the dugout like I usually do but I just knew,” said Poly coach Elizabeth Sanches of the win. “I knew and I trusted them. I forgot who it was, but someone told me in the dugout that they were nervous…I told them that I don’t want to hear that. It’s a game. Trust your experience, get out there and have fun.”
The Jackrabbits were with junior Ki’ele Ho-Ching who has been on and off the field while nursing an injury. The Oklahoma commit played as their designated-hitter and went 3-for-3 with a pair of home runs. Ho-Ching also finished the game with three RBIs and three runs of her own.
“I’m so grateful for such a supportive team and coaches who understand my situation,” she said. “I feel like I have such a great support system not just with them but with my family as well. It feels great to be back and help my team come out on top today.”
Ho-Ching’s first home run of the day sparked a response for Poly after they trailed 5-1 through two innings. After an Emoni Lam Sam single to open the third, Ho-Ching’s home run cut the lead to two. Janelle Morris then hit an RBI double before an Alayna Veavealagi sac-bunt. Sunnie Vaafuti hit an RBI single to close out the inning to put the Jackrabbits up 6-5—their first and final lead of the day.
“I started to see a few nerves because we’re not used to being behind in the playoffs, but I just reminded them that in the last three games we scored 26 runs,” said Sanches of her message ahead of the breakout inning. “A four run deficit is nothing. Of course we don’t want a four run deficit, but when it comes to trusting their bats and their ability to execute and do what it takes to score runs I have so much trust in them.”
The Jackrabbits added another pair of runs in the fourth inning when Morris smacked a two-run home run to left field. Harvard-Westlake responded in the inning with a Kale’a Tindal solo home run to cut the lead to two.
Poly found some insurance runs in the fifth when E. Lam Sam hit an RBI double to score Vaafuti. A hit-by-pitch with the bases loaded then scored Lam Sam before a fielder’s choice that allowed both Ho-Ching and Tauala to score. Ho-Ching had her second home run of the day on a solo shot to left field in the seventh inning.
Harvard-Westlake found a run from Tindal in the sixth inning thanks to an error. The Wolverines then put together a monstrous rally in the bottom of the seventh with RBI singles from Tindal and Fischer Hinnen. Emma Tseng scored on a fielder’s choice before a Dylan Fischer RBI double to cut the lead to just one run.
The Poly defense and pitcher Tegan Breaux had their backs against the wall when Harvard-Westlake had the tying run in scoring position and the game-winning run on first base. The sophomore got out of it with a pop-up to Vaafuti for the put-out to seal the win for the Jackrabbits.
“It was nerve-racking,” Breaux said of the final inning. She pitched six innings and had three strikeouts. “I was shaking, but I feel like we’re able to get past things like that. We’ve won games and we’ve lost games so we know that pressure. So we were able to push through that.”
“She thrives off of that intensity, which is great,” said Sanches of Breaux. “She gets in that zone and she is one of the most intense players I’ve ever coached. As a young 15 year old, I don’t know if she realizes what she’s doing. It’s insane. We’re excited to have her for two more years.”
Poly’s championship matchup against Warren will either be on Friday or next Saturday according to the CIF bracket. Warren defeated Dos Pueblos on Saturday to advance.
