The 2025 high school softball season is finally over, and what a season it was after both the Mater Dei Catholic Lady Crusaders and Eastlake Lady Titans brought home coveted Southern California regional champiohship awards last weekend.
With both reigning San Diego Section divisional champions playing on the road — Meter Dei Catholic in Orange and Eastlake in El Cajon — fortune shined on both Metro-Mesa League rivals.
Open Division section champion Mater Dei Catholic (27-7) finished as the top team in Southern California after derailing top-seeded El Modena (23-10) on Saturday by a score of 12-3 to claim the Division I regional title.
Meanwhile, in a game that would never seem to end, sixth-seeded Eastlake (23-11-1) edged No. 1 seed Christian (24-9-1) by a score of 2-1 that went 12 innings, also on Saturday, to determine this year’s Southern California Division II regional champion.
It was a reason to definitely celebrate at both Chula Vista schools.
In fact, the SoCal title is the second for the Lady Crusaders after previously winning it in 2022 and finishing runner-up last year.
“The Metro Conference is extremely proud of all our sports, especially all our spring CIF champions,” Metro Conference president Alex Estrada said. “Softball has become the marquee female sport in the Metro Conference.
“Three Mesa League teams were in the Open and two played in the CIF Open Division championship.
“Three CIF champions is amazing and unprecedented to have two Southern California champions.
“A great year for the Metro Conference.”
Senior Analesse “Peanut” Garcia led second-seeded Mater Dei Catholic’s 13-hit howitzer barrage with four RBI with a double and home run while sophomores Chuck Masingale (double) and Maya Matthies (home run) each collected two RBI in the rout.
Also knocking in runs were senior Lilia Alpuche, junior Gigi Flores and senior Bella Hiner. Masingale had three hits while five players each had two hits: Garcia, Matthies, Hiner, junior Bella Harris and sophomore pitcher Arri Romero.
Junior Jahsiya Blaney scored three times while Garcia, Matthies, Harris each scored twice.
The Lady Crusaders overcame a 2-0 El Modena lead with a single run in the fourth inning, a big six-run outburst in the fifth inning and five more runs in the top of the seventh inning to put away the championship. MDC limited the Lady Vanguards to six hits.
Romero pitched a complete game with six hits and nine strikeouts.
The regional finals are currently as far as any team can go without a dedicated state championship game in place.
For comparison, second-seeded Salinas defeated fourth-seeded Liberty, 4-1, to captured the Division II Northern California regional title.
Clash of the Titans
When all was tabulated, Christian had played 34 games this season while Eastlake had played 35.
“We knew this would be the hardest game to get through,” Eastlake head coach Jandi Diego said. “We had played them earlier in the season and we lost 7-2. They’ve got good pitching and they’ve got good batters. We were able to capitalize on their miscues. The girls kept passing the bat to each other. It was tight.”
“The season went very well, even though we had a hard time in the Open Division with us being a small school of 430 students without a junior varsity program,” Christian coach George Gentry said. “It was hard to compete, but the girls did a great job. They showed a lot of heart.”
Eastlake has a student enrollment of 2,783 by comparison.
Saturday’s Eastlake-Christian championship game could have gone either way with plenty of scoring opportunities by both teams. Eastlake totaled 10 hits in the game with 10 runners left on base while Christian had eight hits and stranded 16 runners on base.
Ultimately, it came down to clutch pitching to keep runners from crossing the plate.
Christian freshman Alyssa McCurty started and pitched the first five innings with four hits, one run allowed and three strikeouts. Sophomore Sienna Staite came in for one inning with no nits and one strikeout while junior Ava Barrios pitched the final six frames with five hits, one run allowed and four strikeouts.
Eastlake junior Addison Suriano was the workhorse by pitching all 12 innings with one earned run and 14 strikeouts. Suriano faced 54 batters and finished the marathon game with 226 pitches thrown.
Eastlake junior Addison Suriano won all seven playoff games she pitched to lift her team to section and regional championships. Photo by Phillip Brents
The three Christian pitchers combined to throw 177 pitches, including 94 by Barrios.
Suriano pitched in every one of Eastlake’s seven playoff games (four in the section tournament and three in the regionals). She won all seven by allowing eight runs on 41 hits with 43 strikeouts.
Eastlake fans began changing “MVP, MVP!” as Suriano returned to the pitching circle each inning as the sun sank further toward the horizon in the gathering gloom.
“It’s surreal,” Suriano said. “The amount of effort these girls all put into the season paid off, especially with the seniors leaving.
“It was exciting. Every single pitch I put everything I had into it.”
The visiting Lady Titans scored in the top of the first inning on lead-off single by senior Deziree Gomez and a double by senior Mackenzie Olshenskie.
The hosts quickly countered on a home run by junior Keels Carrizosa in the next inning. Teammates were abuzz with anticipation as she rounded the bases.
Few in the ballpark would guess what would transpire next — nine scoreless innings.
“Both teams had plenty of chances to win,” Gentry said. “You have to give credit to the pitchers. They came up big on both sides. It was a very well-balanced game.”
Eastlake finally broke the stalemate in the top of the 12th inning as junior Mia Vasquez doubled and came around on a single by Gomez.
That left it up to Suriano, who retired the side in order on two strikeouts and a ground ball.
Gomez finished the game as the Lady Titans’ top bat-person with three hits while senior Jaelene Jenkins had two hits.
Senior Ashley Wood keyed Christian with three hits.
Suriano said she was pitching just has hard at the end as at the start. The 12 innings were not a personal record. She pitched 15 innings as a freshman in a game against Brawley, and she also won that game.
She would like to have one pitch back, however.
“It was stressful (after the home run to tie the game),” Suriano said.
But the victory proved to be a stress reliever as the Division I section and regional championships were the first in history for the Lady Titans.
“It’s so cool,” Suriano said. “I didn’t know that going into CIF and state. It’s an honor.”
The game could have ended much earlier if an Eastlake player hadn’t been thrown out at the plate trying to score on a wild pitch.
The Lady Pats loaded the bases in the bottom of the third inning but ended the inning on a deep fly ball to left field.
Christian advanced a runner to third base in the bottom of the seventh inning , put two runners on base in the bottom of the eighth inning, had runners on second and third bases in the 10th inning and loaded the bases in the bottom of the 11th.
But the hosts just couldn’t somehow produce the walk-off win.
SoCal scoreboard
Eastlake scored upset wins in each of its three regional games, starting with a 3-2 victory at No. 3 Bakersfield Christian (23-10) on June 3. Senior Rachel Del Busto (two hits) supplied the offense with three RBI, including a home run.
The Lady Titans shut out second-seeded Westlake (20-15) by a score of 3-0 last Friday in a game moved back a day because of heat concerns. Gomez and junior Bryn Grayson (two hits) each drove in one run to power the sixth-seeded Lady Titans.
Christian received a bye in the quarterfinals before shading fourth-seeded Monache, 1-0, in the semifinals on June 5.
On the season, senior Kaitlyn Moody keyed the Lady Patriots with a 0.421 hitting average in 34 games with 25 RBI and three home runs. Next up were senior Lucy Sherburne (0.387, 29 RBI, six home runs), Wood (0.371, 13 RBI), junior Sammy Baca (0.343, 27 RBI, eight home runs), McCurty (0.297, 16 RBI, five home runs), senior Tyler Krystek (0.297, 16 RB) and Carrizosa (0.267, 14 RBI, four home runs).
Barrios led the team with a 12-7 record, one save and 109 strikeouts in 98.1 innings while McCurty (8-1) paced the team with a 0.86 earned-run average, two saves and 75 strikeouts in 81.1 innings. Staite finished 4-1 in the pitching circle with a 2.82 ERA, one save and 21 strikeouts in 44.2 innings.
The Lady Pats batted 0.305 as a team with 27 home runs and posted a cumulative 2.53 ERA with 207 strikeouts in 230 innings.
Eastlake’s leaders included Olshenskie (0.442, 31 RBI, seven home runs), junior Kaili Balajadia (0.353, nine RBI), senior Ryan Pham (0.343, 10 RBI), senior Bri Ayap (0.340, six RBI), junior Bryn Grayson (0.333, eight RBI), Gomez (0.321, 15 RBI, two home runs), senior Jaz Hernandez (0.317, seven RBI), Vasquez (0.286, 10 RBI) and Del Busto (0.269, 14 RBI, two home runs).
Suriano made 27 pitching appearances with an 11-7 record, one save, 2.38 ERA and 129 strikeouts in 155.2 innings. Balajadia was 4-1 in 10 appearance with a 2.52 ERA and 45 strikeouts in 37.1 innings.
The Lady Titans hit 0.301 as a team with 14 home runs and logged a 2.35 team ERA with 190 strikeouts in 232.1 innings.
CIF scoreboard
Christian is no stranger to CIF championships having won titles in 1986 (Division II), 1994 (Division IV), 1996 (Division IV), 2000 (Division IV), 2002 (Division IV), 2016 (Division IV) and 2017 (Division III).
Christian finished as the City Conference Western League champion with a 6-2 league record, one game ahead of Point Loma (28-6-1), which would go on to win the Division III SoCal title with a 4-1 win over South Gate Legacy (26-8).
The Lady Patriots received the No. 4 seed in the section’s Open Division playoffs, which guaranteed them a berth in the state playoffs. Christian opened the double-elimination bracket with a 7-4 win over fifth-seeded Cathedral Catholic (17-12) before dropping a 5-1 decision to No. 1 Mater Dei Catholic (27-7).
The Lady Pats rebounded with a 12-7 win over Cathedral Catholic to eliminate the Lady Dons and earn a rematch with Mater Dei Catholic. The Lady Crusaders, the eventual Division I SoCal champion, won the double-elimination match 4-0 en route to claiming the division title with a 6-1 win over third-seeded Bonita Vista (25-8).
Alyssa McCurty and Krystek each had three RBI in the first game against Cathedral Catholic while McCurty drove in five runs in the playoff rematch and Baca had three RBI.
Wind her up and let her pitch … Eastlake’s Addison Suriano was the game’s ironwoman.
Eastlake (0-6 in Metro-Mesa League play) opened the Division I playoffs with a 3-2 win over seventh-seeded Steele Canyon, defeated sixth-seeded El Capitan (16-16) by a score of 7-2 and eliminated the Lady Cougars (18-14-1) in a double-elimination game, 10-1, before shutting out No. 8 Rancho Bernardo (13-15-1) by a score of 9-0 in the championship game played May 30 at SDSU.
Eastlake is losing nine players to graduation, but Suriano fortunately is not one of those players. College scouts will surely be out to watch her games next season if she already hasn’t caught someone’s eye.
Eye on the prize
Mater Dei Catholic continued its tug-of-war with league arch-rival Bonita Vista with a dramatic regional semifinal encounter on June 5 after both teams received a bye in the Division I quarterfinals.
No. 3 Bonita Vista (25-8) took an early 3-1 lead in the semifinal matchup before No. 2 Mater De Catholic went in front 4-3 in the fourth innings. The teams were tied 4-4 through six innings before the host Lady Crusaders won in walk-off fashion with a run in the seventh inning to prevail 5-4 on the scoreboard.
Alpuche (three hits) had two RBI, including the game-winner. Harris and junior Liana Quinones also picked up RBI while senior Anaissa Del Rio drove in two runs for Bonita Vista.
