NORTHRIDGE — The Louisville softball team has had a season of setbacks. Two players endured injuries and another player was in a major car accident, but the Royals played at their full potential for an 11-9 win over Sierra Canyon on Wednesday afternoon.
“We wanted to show up and finish strong,” Louisville coach Christina Lupacchini said. “This is what we could have done all year and some unfortunate circumstances said otherwise, but this is us this year.”
After Wednesday’s game at Northridge City Little League, Sierra Canyon and Notre Dame are tied for first place in the Mission League and Louisville is next in the standings. The top three teams receive automatic bids to the CIF Southern Section playoffs. The brackets will be released Saturday at 10 a.m.
A late home run and strong defense in the seventh inning helped the Royals (14-6 overall, 6-3 in Mission League) hand the Trailblazers(11-5-1, 5-2) their first home loss of the season.
Bella Wellbaum and Lily Rodriguez got on base with singles, then Sophia Stein, who was in a car accident earlier this season, hit a three-run homer to put her team ahead 11-9.
Pitcher Lola Jefferies blanked Sierra Canyon in the seventh inning. She caught a line drive for an out, and freshman Leah Olmo made a catch against the wall in center field for the final out of the game.
“When we were going in to hit for the seventh inning, I was like, this is our fight,” Royals senior Cece Cellura said. “We need to turn this into our game. We’ve been fighting, we’ve come back from way worse than this.”
Cellura pitched 6 1/3 innings before Jefferies came on in relief. Cellura also went 3 for 5 at the plate with a home run and two singles.
Cellura made her return to the circle roughly a week ago after recovering from an MCL sprain.
The San Diego State commit has dealt with injuries throughout her playing career. It took a toll on her mental health, but the physical and mental recovery process has made her stronger.
“I kept pushing myself and being like, there’s a bigger picture,” Cellura said. “There’s my team, my coaches, my teammates. Everything happens for a bigger picture, so I feel like that’s what helped me get through this one. I’m going to do anything and everything I can do to get back on the field because that’s where I belong.”
Hailey Shuler pitched a complete game for Sierra Canyon and dealt 10 strikeouts. At the plate, she hit two home runs and was intentionally walked twice.
She hit a leadoff home run in the bottom of the first.
“She’s a complete player,” Trailblazers coach Regina Jorgensen said. “She can separate the two. That’s the beauty of Hailey. … She comes in and has a great hitting approach and a great pitching approach.”
Sierra Canyon put up four more runs in the second inning on a Leanna Lara solo home run and a three-run homer from Shuler.
Louisville dug out of the deficit by scoring six runs in the fourth inning for a 6-5 lead.
The Royals were without New Mexico signee Hayden Luderer, who had surgery on her broken finger Monday, but adapted well to the new lineup.
“Playing for other people today was my motto,” Lupacchini said. “Just play for someone else, string the hits together and we will come together as a team.”
The Trailblazers pulled ahead in the sixth inning with another home run from Lara and RBI singles from Natalia Areliz and Isabella Mertes, but Louisville put the game away in the final inning.
“This team has come so far and watching everyone step up today was really great,” Cellura said. “This was our last league game, let’s go out with a bang. … This is our game, we’ve gotta take it.”