Shadow Hills softball rallies for walkoff win, grabs at least share of league title

It was the biggest moment of the game in the biggest game of the season, and Shadow Hills freshman Jiselle Morales was called on to pinch hit against one of the top pitchers in the league.

"I was thinking, I know her first pitch is going to be strike and I'm going to swing at it," said Morales of her at-bat in the bottom of the seventh with runners on first and second and her team trailing 1-0 against Palm Desert ace Natalie Rey. "I was really nervous in that moment. But I hit it and I was a little bit in shock, but I was so happy."

Morales laced a double down the right-field line, scoring the game-tying run. After an intentional walk to load the bases, another freshman stepped up to the plate and she delivered, too. Ximena Arizaga ripped the first pitch she saw over the drawn-in outfielder's head for a walkoff single to give the Knights the dramatic 2-1 win and clinch at worst a share of their first-ever Desert Empire League title.

With so many heroes on the bases in that moment, the team wasn't sure who to hug or where to celebrate. They settled on the third base area where Morales and Arizaga and the whole team congregated in a flurry of hugs and high-fives, having just captured a game that Palm Desert had controlled for the first six and a half innings.

"I told my assistant 'We're going to win' when that bottom of the seventh started," said Shadow Hills coach JT Tiumalu. "Part of it was just staying positive, but also I just had a feeling we were starting to get to (Rey). I've got 18 kids on this team and all of them can play, all of them have a role. I know some of them maybe don't play as much as they want, but they work hard for moments like this and tonight was a perfect example."

The win moves the Knights to 12-2 with one game left in the regular season. They are a game ahead of 11-3 La Quinta and Palm Desert falls to 10-4 after the loss, no longer capable of grabbing a share of the DEL crown.

The game

The game was tense from the start and it seemed like no one would ever score as a classic pitcher's duel was developing between Palm Desert's Rey and Shadow Hills' Ava Valenzuela. How locked in were both pitchers?

Rey struck out eight of the first nine batters she faced and Valenzuela struck out six of the first seven batters she faced.

Palm Desert broke through in the top of the fourth inning when senior Sidney Sherrod ripped a triple to center field and came home on a sharp single by freshman Audra Higgins.

The inning ended in strange fashion. With one out and Higgins on first, Helena Martinez hit a roller down the first-base line. It was in foul territory about 90% of the time, but it trickled back into fair territory right before the first base bag. The Shadow Hills first baseman grabbed it and stepped on first for the force out, but everyone on the field thought it was a foul ball, including Higgins who was on second but started to head back to first.

The Knights had already thrown the ball back to the pitcher, and as confusion continued and both benches were yelling and pointing all over the place, they saw Higgins going back to first and tried to throw her out but she made it back to first safely. However, the umpire called Higgins out as well.

Palm Desert coach Jim Serven had a long talk with the infield umpire, asking for an explanation. For starters, he didn't think the ball should've been called fair, but that appeared to be the right call. But if that was the case, then why would the runner be out? She should be able to go back to first at that point. All of his attempts fell on deaf ears and the inning was over.

Shadow Hills finally started to show the ability to get some baserunners against Rey in the fourth inning. Two runners got on via walk, but a slick back-handed play by Palm Desert second baseman Rebecca Devers ended the threat. The Knights got their first hit of the game in the fifth inning when Neveah Wells singled after fouling off about nine balls, including two that went into the backyard of a house behind home plate that featured a dog barking throughout most of the game.

Just like the fourth inning, the fifth ended with another great play by Devers, this time diving to her left to snag a grounder for the final out. In the bottom of the sixth, again the Knights had a runner in scoring position when Samantha Beltran hit a two-out double, but this time it was Rey taking care of business with a strikeout, the last of her 10 Ks on the night.

Valenzuela, meanwhile, kept the Aztecs off the board the rest of the game. She finished her gem with 12 strikeouts.

The bottom of the seventh

Jayla Brown led off with a groundout to shortstop. Gianna Hernandez ripped a liner so hard to the outfield wall that she could only get a single as the Palm Desert right-fielder got the ball back in quickly. Walls then collected her second hit of the game with a hard bouncer over the pitcher and into centerfield. Pinch-runner Karla Cerda replaced Walls at first, as Morales stepped up to bat.

She was a little late on a Rey fastball but made hard contact sending it over the first-baseman's head and into right-field for the clutch double scoring Hernandez.

"I was so happy for her, I mean she's only a freshman and she came through," said Knights pitcher Valenzuela. "I think we used everybody in the game. I was so proud of this team tonight."

With runners on second and third and just one out in a 1-1 game, the Aztecs chose to set up the force play by intentionally walking Valenzuela to load the bases. But they never got a chance as Arizaga laced a ball deep into the outfield for the game-winner. After the team jam-pile celebration at third base, and a post-game huddle with the coaches, there was one final celebratory moment as two Knights were able to surprise Tiumalu with a classic Gatorade bath while he was doing a post-game interview.

Shadow Hills had only two hits in the first six innings, before rattling off four straight in the bottom of the seventh. This game followed a similar pattern to the previous two meetings this year as Rey and Valenzuela have been consistently excellent all year. Palm Desert won the first game 1-0 and Shadow Hills won the second game 2-1.

The Knights can clinch the outright league title with a win in their finale on Wednesday against Rancho Mirage, a team they have beaten by mercy rule twice this season.

The Aztecs who have clinched a playoff berth will finish their season Wednesday at home against Palm Springs.

"There's nothing better than a walkoff, especially in a huge game like that," said Tiumalu who let the team know earlier in the season, this would be his last year coaching the team before the family moves to Texas where his daughter Tori is set to play at Texas A&M Commerce. "This is a big deal for us, a big deal for the school and for me. I just had a sense of relief, knowing I didn't have to sit around this weekend thinking about the one that got away.

"I told them this was my last year, so let's make it special," he added. "This one was special."

Shad Powers is a columnist for The Desert Sun. Reach him at shad.powers@desertsun.com.

This article originally appeared on Palm Springs Desert Sun: Shadow Hills softball rallies for crucial walkoff win over Palm Desert