West Ranch softball edges Canyon in a wild finish to Foothill League game

SANTA CLARITA – West Ranch softball scored three runs in the bottom of the seventh inning to defeat Canyon 13-12 on Friday for a wild win in the Foothill League with the CIF-SS playoffs on the horizon.

West Ranch (19-7 overall, 9-2 league) led 8-4 after five innings, but Canyon (8-17, 3-8) took a 10-8 lead with with six runs in the sixth inning.

The Wildcats’ plate discipline helped them tie the game at 10-10. Senior Madison Meister drew a bases-loaded walk to score one run and sophomore Elaine Shirley drove in a run with a sacrifice fly to right field.

Canyon continued to battle in the top of the seventh and retook the lead.

With one out and runners at second and third, Canyon senior Vivian Rangel drove in two runs with a double to left field to make it 12-10 and quiet the home crowd at West Ranch.

In the bottom of the seventh, junior Naomi Stoll and sophomore Kara Carnes started the inning for West Ranch with back-to-back walks. Sophomore Mariella Elisseos hit a hard single to right field to load the bases for freshman Juliette Merrilees.

Merrilees hit a two-run double to tie the game at 12-12 and put West Ranch runners at second and third.

Sophomore Gretchen Roen earned another walk against Canyon pitcher Evanie Torres, setting up Meister for a chance to win the game.

With the bases loaded, Meister worked the count to 3-0 before Torres threw two strikes in a row to make it a full count.

On the biggest pitch of the game, Meister calmly looked at a low pitch that earned her a walk and brought in the winning run.

“That’s a senior captain of ours in that box,” West Ranch head coach Michael Merrilees said about Meister.

“For her to sit back and take what was given to her, that’s maturity beyond years for her, but she’s been doing that in clutch moments for us for the last two years that I’ve been coaching here.”

Merrilees expressed his confidence in the team in tough situations.

“We battled and we were marking almost every inning,” he said, “so from that standpoint I’ll take our bats even when we’re trailing.”