Mercy, mercy me: Crusaders in finals

In the end, however, the Crusaders refused to lose. Mercy, the No. 7 seed, scored two runs in the top of the 11th to record a 3-1 win over No. 3 Valley Christian and move into Saturday's final against top-seeded Notre Dame-Salinas.

When Mercy shortstop Meghan Chavez threw to first baseman Kate Maciel for the final out of the game, both Chavez and pitcher Claire Rietmann-Grout collapsed to the ground as the rest of the team formed two dogpiles on their prone teammates. When they got to their feet and finished the post-game handshakes, both had tears streaming down their faces.

"Tonight we were going home winners," Rietmann-Grout said.

Rietmann-Grout pitched a complete game, scattering seven hits, striking out nine and giving up the one unearned run.

"All day at school we were skipping around. We were pumped up," she said. "I don't think I'll sleep tonight."

With Andrea Mendieta on second base to start the 11th because of the international tiebreaker rule, Chavez came to the plate and on a 2-2 pitch, ripped a shot to the fence in left field to plate Mendieta with the go-ahead run. It was Chavez's second triple and second RBI of the game. She drove in the Crusaders' first run with a three-bagger in the third.

"Instead of laying down the bunt, like everyone else would in that situation, my best batter had to swing the bat," Mercy coach Jim Henderson said. "She put the barrel on the ball and boom."

Said Chavez: "Jim said he wasn't going to take the bat out of my hands. I was looking for a pitch to drive.

"This is amazing," Chavez continued. "This is the first time we've gone to the championship game."

The Crusaders added an insurance run when Fanucci sent a sacrifice fly to right to score Chavez.

Despite going runner-less from the fourth inning to the eighth, Rietmann-Grout and the Crusaders' defense kept the Warriors from putting the game away. Valley Christian stranded 12 runners and several times had the winning run in scoring position. But they just could not come up with the clutch hit.

The Warriors had a chance to win in the bottom of the eighth when they loaded the bases with one out. Jessica Ikerd came to the plate and on the first pitch from Rietmann-Grout, popped up to Maciel at first base. The runner on third, a freshman who was a courtesy runner for Valley Christian pitcher Emily Radonich, broke for home as soon as Ikerd hit the ball. Maciel threw back to Amanda Troxler at third who stepped on the bag for an inning-ending double play.

"I think that definitely pumped us up," Chavez said.

That appeared to wake up the Mercy bats. In the ninth, Lauren Fanucci led off with a solid single, the Crusaders' first baserunner since the third inning. Rietmann-Grout followed with a perfect bunt that got between the pitcher and first baseman for a single. Troxler followed and hit a grounder toward the shortstop, but Fanucci ran into the shortstop before the ball got there. Fanucci was out on runner's interference and it killed the inning as the next two batters were retired.

In the 10th, another baserunning error hurt Mercy's chances. With a runner on second and one out, Lauren Harwood singled to left. The runner at second broke for third and was thrown out to thwart another Mercy rally.

"I wished we played better," Henderson said. "But somehow we overcame all those mistakes."

When Mercy took a 1-0 lead in the third, it looked like it would stand up. Harwood led off the inning with a single. Courtesy runner Krista Fanucci was moved up on a sacrifice bunt and Chavez chased her home with a triple to left.

Valley Christian managed to put runners on base in every inning except the second, yet Mercy managed to wiggle out of trouble time and again.

"I couldn't have done it without my defense," Rietmann-Grout said. "My defense came up whenever I needed them."

The Warriors finally broke through in the bottom of the fifth. Ikerd led off the inning with a double to left that just eluded the glove of Fanucci. Jessie Wrye followed with a bunt that was destined for a basehit but the Mercy catcher picked it up and blindly fired to first. The ball was nowhere near Maciel at first and Ikerd came around to score on the overthrow.

The two teams matched zeroes until the Crusaders finally prevailed six innings later.

Things won't get an easier for the Crusaders. On Saturday, they face a Notre Dame-Salinas team that is one of the top squads in the country. The Spirits have won six-straight CCS titles and seven in the last eight years.

Yet the Spirits might have given the Crusaders some hope. They scored a controversial run in the bottom of the 10th to beat Carmel 1-0 in the game that preceded the Mercy-Valley Christian game.

"[Today] at practice, I'm going to tell them how we let a good team back in the game," Henderson said. "There's no way we can play like this and win Saturday."

But Chavez is looking for one more miracle win.

"We're going to work our butts off (in practice)," she said. "We'd like to make one more upset."