Bollinger Pitches No-Hitter as Mater Dei Beats El Toro

Mater Dei Coach Doug Myers sweated bullets all week because he didn’t think his top-ranked softball team should have to open the Southern Section Division I playoffs against a team as dangerous as El Toro.

He was right to be so nervous, but Tia Bollinger gave Myers a reason to breathe easy. Bollinger pitched a no-hitter and the Monarchs beat El Toro, 1-0, at Mile Square Park.

Mater Dei plays at Los Alamitos in a second-round game Tuesday.

Both coaches said the 75-minute pitching duel was among the best they had witnessed as coaches.

Bollinger (15-1) missed a perfect game only because third baseman Marissa Young let a slow grounder bounce off her glove leading off the sixth inning. Bollinger struck out nine and threw 71 pitches in seven innings.

Suzanne Guy (10-5) threw 47 pitches and, had she not thrown away a one-hopper in the sixth inning, would have retired the side in order five times. She faced only two over the minimum for El Toro (19-11).

But Mater Dei (26-3) put together the winning rally in the fourth against Guy, who called her performance her best of the season.

Mater Dei’s Kelsey Kollen had a leadoff single past diving shortstop Brittany Lindheim, took second on Jodi Schicker’s sacrifice bunt, stole third base on the next pitch, and scored on Robin Walker’s single past Guy’s ankles.

“We said we needed to do the little things today,” Kollen said, “and we did.”

Their timing couldn’t be better, either. El Toro Coach Jim Daugherty said he was late in calling for his shortstop to cover third base on Walker’s fake bunt.

“We knew [Kollen] was going to steal third,” Daugherty said. “I was ready to tell the shortstop to step toward third base.

“If the throw had been a few inches inside the bag, she would have slid right into the tag.”

Walker then hit a 2-0 pitch past Guy.

None of the Monarchs got a good look at Guy, who struck out two. She threw only eight pitches in every inning but the third, when she threw seven.

The one run was all Bollinger (15-1) needed.

“I knew the team would come through--they always do,” said Bollinger, a sophomore. “It would have happened sooner or later, whether it was the seventh inning or the 17th.”

El Toro pinch-runner Megan Shacklett suffered a mild concussion when she caught a knee in the face diving to first base. She was taken to Orange Coast Memorial Medical Center after the game, and was treated and released.

In other Division I games:

Foothill 2, West Covina 0--Lindsay Fossatti drove in Erin Mobley on a fifth-inning double. Lauren Schwendimann (10 strikeouts), pitched a one-hitter for the Knights (22-4).

Fountain Valley 1, Westminster 0--With two outs in the bottom of the seventh, junior Rocky Staniorski hit an RBI single scoring Lovianne Jung from third base. Colleen Burdick pitched a one-hitter, striking out 12 for Fountain Valley (18-12). Westminster finishes 12-10.

Irvine 6, Moreno Valley Canyon Springs 1--Colleen Young (9-2) had eight strikeouts for Irvine. Brett Nakabayashi had three hits and three RBIs for Irvine (22-4).

Los Alamitos 11, Lakewood 3--Lyndsay Sutherland hit her first homer, a grand slam in the fourth, for Los Alamitos. Sara Kahler had two hits, two RBIs, and three runs scored for Los Alamitos (14-10).