Mitty is 1st champ in CCS Open softball

In an all-West Catholic Athletic League title game, fourthseeded Archbishop Mitty-San Jose (22-6) won its 11th Central Coast Section softball title in 13 years and 15th overall with a 9-5 Open Division championship win Saturday over a no-quit St. Francis squad at PAL Stadium in San Jose.

Mitty scored one run in the second inning, four in the third and four in the fourth, and then held off the Lancers in the first Open Division tournament in CCS history.

“It’s definitely special winning the first Open championship,” Mitty coach Joe Gron told Harold Abend of Prep2Prep.com. “I’m just so happy for this group of girls because it represents the best of the best.”

Mitty prevailed after two losses to St. Francis earlier this season.

“We wanted this extremely bad, and it made it so much better because everyone doubted us,” said senior Lauren Lopez, who was 3-for-4 with a double, stolen base and a run scored.

The biggest hit came from Diamond Holland. With Mitty leading 5-0 in the top of the fourth, the freshman blasted a ball well over 200 feet that sailed over the right fielder’s head and up against the wall 250 feet away. The speedy Holland had no trouble circling the bases and her inside-the-park tworun home run made it 7-0.

Mitty scored two more runs in the fourth, the last on an RBI single by Hannah Edwards (2-for-2, double, RBI, two runs), but St. Francis would not go quietly.

After getting only four hits in the first five innings against Mitty sophomore pitcher Savanna Smith, St. Francis got five hits and scored five runs in the sixth, and loaded the bases with three hits in the bottom of the seventh to bring the tying run to the plate. However, Smith got a strikeout and a grounder back to the circle for the final out.

Myka Hughes was 3-for-4 with a triple that drove in the final two runs for St. Francis.