MURRIETA — Happiness hit Orange Lutheran pitcher Brianne Weiss before Saturday’s semifinal softball game even started. The feeling did not go away.
Regaining the sharp touch that had defined her regular season, Weiss threw a two-hitter and struck out 12 to lead the Lancers to a 13-1 rout of Murrieta Mesa and a spot in the Division 1 championship game Friday or Saturday.
Making their first title-game appearance in eight years, the Lancers (21-3) will face Garden Grove Pacifica at Deanna Manning Stadium in Irvine. Orange Lutheran and Pacifica split two tournament games earlier this season,
Weiss had allowed an uncharacteristic 11 runs and 15 hits over the first two rounds of the playoffs but felt the tide turn in pregame warmups.
“The recent complaint with the CIF was that the ball was really heavy for pitchers,” Weiss said. “When they gave me the new ball, it felt super light, and I felt amazing.”
Staked to a 1-0 lead before she took the circle, Weiss immediately found herself in some trouble with a runner at second and no outs. But she mowed down three of Murrieta Mesa’s best hitters to escape the inning.
It was the start of a run that saw her retire 16 of 17 batters, including eight consecutive strikeouts at one point. This against a Murrieta Mesa team that scored in double digits 16 times this season, including both playoff games.
“Today, she was locked in,” Orange Lutheran coach Steve Miklos said. “She’s pitching like she’s pitched for us all season.”
Miklos said the long layoff after the regular season might have affected Weiss.
“I felt like my pitches weren’t spinning as much,” Weiss said of the first two playoff starts. “I wasn’t getting the swings and misses I usually get.”
On the other side, a tight strike zone and a disciplined Orange Lutheran lineup proved to be a disastrous combination for Murrieta Mesa starter Lilly Hauser. She walked 10, two intentionally, including a bases-loaded walk in the first. Two runs also scored on wild pitches.
“She’s never walked 10, ever,” Rams coach Antonio Romero said. “There’s no way it has to be that tight. But that’s how it goes sometimes.”
Hauser walked a tightrope for much of the game, as Orange Lutheran left the bases loaded in the first and third.
The Lancers blew the game open with eight runs in the fifth, including seven that scored with two outs. After the two runs on wild pitches, No. 9 hitter Chloe McGreevey ripped a two-run double to make it 5-0. Kai Minor and Zara Mineo-Schrank also had key hits in the inning.
“The word on her (Hauser) is that she is effectively wild,” Miklos said. “She gets people to chase pitches. But we did a really good job of laying off pitches out of the strike zone.”
Weiss lost her no-hit bid when Taelyn Holley singled with one out in the sixth and fell one out short of a shutout when Madi Lardizabal homered in the seventh.
