CHATSWORTH — The Chatsworth softball team’s hot streak finally cooled off with an 11-6 loss to Coastal Academy in the CIF Southern California Regional Division V championship game Saturday afternoon.
Despite the setback, the Chancellors’ season signaled a bright future ahead.
Prior to the regional playoffs, Chatsworth entered the CIF Los Angeles City Section playoffs as the No. 1 seed in Division II. The Chancellors outscored their opponents 35-4 to claim the City Section title and earn the No. 1 seed in Division V of the regional championship.
“We were living for the playoffs,” Chancellors head coach Niccole Ryan said. “Our league was so tough. We played against really big and talented schools so we were living on a prayer to get to Division II and play schools more our size. We worked hard to replicate situations where kids would be under pressure. We’ve never done that with this team so it was great to see the outcomes change for us.”
Out here at Chatsworth High School as the Chatsworth Lady Chancellors Softball team gets ready to take on the Coastal Academy Stingrays for the CIF SoCal Division 5 Regional Championship. Game set to begin in about 10 minutes.@haleymsawyer @ChatsworthAD pic.twitter.com/km9UOUK486
— Ryan Menzie (@MenzieReporter) June 1, 2024
The Stingrays, who are from Oceanside, came out strong with an RBI double and sacrifice fly to take a 2-0 lead in the top of the first inning.
The Chancellors quickly answered with a run of their own with an RBI single from Lila Mashhoud.
Tough defense kept the score at 2-1 the next three innings. The Chancellors were putting runners on base, but they could not capitalize.
It wasn’t until the fifth inning that the runs came flying in. The Stingrays loaded the bases, scored on three consecutive at-bats and pushed the lead to 7-1.
“Our team came out and gave it their best effort,” said Ryan. “The last couple of games we played much lower-level pitching. It was hard for us to adjust. We made some great plays in the outfield, our pitcher and catcher played great together, but we just came up short.”
In the bottom of the fifth, Chatsworth closed the gap to 7-4 with the key being Mashhoud’s two-run double.
In the sixth, the Stingrays extended their lead to 11-4 with the key blow being pitcher Sofia Tillis’ three-run home run.
The Chancellors had one last gasp in the seventh inning, scoring two runs off a single from Sophia Castro and a sacrifice fly from Izellah Saldate-Gomez, but it wasn’t enough.
“We’re going to keep building on our core values,” Ryan said. “Keep building our program and hopefully draw more kids with softball experience. We’re going to build up our JV and varsity team and look to be competitive in Division I next year.”
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