ARCE’S POWER COMES ALIVE

Having graduated a lot of seniors off last year’s team, this year’s Mission Hills High softball squad had a few question marks this season, including who would be the starting pitcher.

One of the established team strengths, though, was Savanna Arce’s bat.

Heading into Tuesday’s San Diego Section Division I first-round playoff game against Helix, Arce had a respectable .333 batting average, but her power numbers were way down.

Two home runs and just 10 RBIs were not what she was expecting.

Now the expectations have risen a bit as she slammed a two-run home run in the first inning and a three-run triple later on in a 9-1 win over No. 11 Helix. By winning, the No. 6 Grizzlies will visit No. 3 Bonita Vista today.

Arce’s first inning took the pressure off her teammates, especially diminutive freshman Oloa Motas, who pitched five innings and exited with a 6-0 lead after allowing two hits and a walk while striking out nine.

“I wasn’t trying to go yard in the first,” Arce said. “I was trying to hit up the middle, but she gave me a fastball, down and in.

“I was trying to hit it up the middle, but when I hit it, I didn’t think it would go as far as people thought it would.”

That’s kind of struggles Arce has faced all season.

She came into her senior and final season of softball off a club season, and it has taken most of the year to find a good groove at the plate.

“I am finally seeing the ball better,” Arce said. “Before I would hit the ball off the end of the bat or I’d get jammed.

“Getting two runs in the first gave all of us breathing room because we came in off a 12-1 loss to our rival (San Marcos) in the last game of the regular season.

“Not what we wanted to do.”

Motas improved to 8-4 this season thanks to a 10-hit attack as every Grizzly starter got at least one hit.

Junior reliever Taliah McKinnon pitched the final two innings.

The Grizzlies, ahead 3-0 after Motas’ run-scoring single in the fourth inning, struck for three runs in both the fifth and sixth innings.

Freshman Laniah Broom’s sacrifice fly scored Helix’s lone run.

The hitting woes that have dogged the Scotties (1016-2) all season continued with an eighth straight loss for a 4-6-1 road record.

The Grizzlies, meanwhile, are 12-6 on the road, a mark they will take to Bonita Vista.

“We want to drive to the end now,” Arce said. “The year before I came here, Mission Hills won a CIF.

“That’s our main goal now because we can forget our last game.”

Most of the question marks have been answered.