LA PALMA — The Kennedy softball team came from behind once in its CIF SS Division 3 semifinal versus Westlake on Saturday at Kennedy High School.
But the Fighting Irish couldn’t quite come back a second time.
Kennedy scored three runs over the final two innings to send the contest to extra innings.
Westlake scored four runs in the top of the eighth and then held off another Kennedy rally for a 7-4 victory.
Westlake (19-13) will take on Marina in the Division 3 championship game.
The Vikings defeated Yorba Linda, 4-0, in the other semifinal Saturday.
Westlake will be making its first trip to a CIF-SS final, Warriors coach Bob Creamer said.
“And the school has been around for 60-something years,” he said.
The game was scoreless until the third when Kaia Tann hit an RBI single to give Westlake a 1-0 lead.
Westlake made it 3-0 in the fifth on an RBI single from Sydney Katz and a run-scoring sacrifice fly from Lily Barrett.
Kennedy (13-16) managed only one hit against Warriors junior pitcher Presley Watters over the first four innings.
Fighting Irish pitcher Emily Cheng allowed one earned run through seven innings and kept her team in the game by stranding runners in scoring position in four separate innings.
The Fighting Irish tried to mount a rally in the fifth, putting runners on second and third with one out, but Watters retired the final two hitters on fly outs.
Kennedy finally broke through in the sixth when Katie Torrez doubled home Natalie Headley for the first run and Torrez scored on an error later in the inning.
Torrez then singled home Arianna Flores in the seventh to tie the score.
The Fighting Irish then had a runner on third with one out and a chance to win the game in regulation but Waters retired the final two hitters, sending the game to extra innings.
Kira Palmer’s two-run double keyed a four-run eighth for the Warriors, who took a 7-3 lead into the bottom of the eighth.
Kennedy coach Adrian Ramón said his team didn’t make smart decisions on the bases.
On deep fly balls to the outfield, Kennedy baserunners could have probably tagged up and scored, Ramón said, but instead, they ran halfway to the next base, and had to retreat back to the base they were on after the ball was caught.
“I told them to stay on the bases,” Ramón said. “We talk about that.”
Marilyn Zarate led off the eighth with a home run to get the Fighting Irish to within three.
Sydney Batalon and Arianna Flores followed with back-to-back doubles, but Batalon didn’t advance past third base.
After a ground out, the Warriors turned a double play to end the threat and the game.