MATER DEI’S CHAOS CREW DOES ITS JOB

The top of the lineup has just one job, and not many teams can match what the Mater Dei Catholic High softball attack does.

There is even a saying to describe what the top four hitters must do.

“We call it creating chaos,” junior center fielder Ayanna Shaw said. “We get on and score runs. We all know what our job is.”

Fresh off winning the San Diego Section Division I championship last Friday, the Crusaders were handed the No. 7 seed in the Division II SoCal Regional Softball Championships.

The seeding committee obviously wasn’t aware of the chaos factor with this team.

Senior Amy Jones, sophomore Micha Salvatierra, Shaw, a junior, and sophomore Michelle Cervantes combined to go 6for-15 on Tuesday in a 5-2 victory over No. 2 Del Norte.

“They find ways to make it exciting,” assistant coach Liz Cerullo said. “We can’t do anything easy. We work on the little things all the time and little things always win games.”

Thanks to the top of the lineup, Mater Dei advances to Thursday’s regional semifinals at No. 6 Rancho Santa Margarita Tesoro, which edged West Covina South Hills 2-1.

The only other San Diego County team to advance was Granite Hills, the top seed in Division III. The Eagles routed Calexico 9-1 and will host Long Beach St. Anthony on Thursday.

Mater Dei (20-11) takes a seven-game winning streak to face Tesoro.

The Crusaders will throw the top of the lineup at Tesoro with impressive statistics:

Jones was 2-for-5 against Del Norte to improve her batting average to .417.

Salvatierra went 1-for-4 to put her average at .406.

Shaw was 2-for-2 with two walks, raising her average to .505.

Cervantes was 1-for-4 with an RBI, putting her average at .375.

“We’re all very annoying during a game,” Shaw said. “Any part of the lineup can hurt you, but the first two hitters get on and Michelle and I drive them in.”

Shaw leads the team with 44 RBIs with Cervantes next with 32.

Against Del Norte, the Crusaders had starting pitcher Isabel Valdez knocked out of the game in the second inning after taking a line drive to the leg.

Freshman Analese Garcia went the final six innings, allowing just solo home runs in the third inning to Emma Giaime and Alexa Brunetti to cut the lead to 4-2.

That was as close as the Palomar League champion Nighthawks (26-6-1) could get as Garcia improved to 11-5.