IRVINE — When she arrived at her first CIF-Southern Section championship game, Rachel Godoy surveyed the high fence at Deanna Manning Stadium and figured she might have to settle for doubles.
“This fence is kind of far,” Godoy thought to herself.
But nothing has been able to contain the Oxnard High junior slugger this postseason.
Godoy’s three-run home run in the bottom of the fifth inning powered the Yellowjackets to the Division 4 championship with a 3-1 win over Mission Viejo in Irvine on Saturday, May 30.
“It was so good,” Godoy said. “This is definitely a moment that I’ll remember forever.”
Sophomore Destinee Herrera allowed five hits and an unearned run, striking out three without a walk, to earn the win in the circle.
“We worked all season for this,” Herrera said. “We came in and did it.”
A first CIF-SS championship was a big moment for head coach Paul Tinoco and assistant Albert Pilpil, who have coached the Yellowjackets for 22 years.
So big that it delayed Tinoco’s 30th wedding anniversary celebration.
“I should be in Cambria right now,” said Tinoco with a laugh.
Godoy and Herrera proved to be a winning combination throughout the CIF-SS playoffs for the Yellowjackets.
The sophomore pitcher did not allow an earned run in 37 postseason innings. Opponents hit just .189 with 29 strikeouts. She did not walk a batter in the final 28.1 innings of the sectional.
“That’s my girl,” Godoy said of Herrera. “She holds it down in the circle.”
Going 1 for 2 with a home run, three RBIs and a walk, Godoy finished the sectional 10 for 16 with three doubles, three home runs, eight RBIs, and seven runs scored.
That’s a .625 batting average, .685 on-base percentage and 1.375 slugging average.
“We’re literally a tag team,” Herrera said.
Layla Mukul was 2 for 3 with a run scored and Herrera, Kayla Lorona, Jaylene Jimenez and Alexis Haros also had hits for Oxnard (17-10-1), which had already earned a berth to this week’s CIF-State regionals.
Oxnard will begin regional play Tuesday. It will learn its seeding and quarterfinal matchup Sunday.
The final was not without its drama.
The game started precariously for Oxnard. Mission Viejo loaded the bases without an out in the top of the first inning on two singles and an infield error.
Helped by shortstop Lorona throwing home to cut down a runner at the plate, Herrera escaped untouched with a popup and two groundouts.
“I wasn’t really nervous coming into the game,” Herrera said. “I was more excited. This was something we worked for as a team.”
Aubrey Garcia was hit by a pitch and Mukul singled to short to generate a scoring chance for Oxnard in the bottom of the third, but Mission Viejo pitcher Taylor Billings retired Godoy and Herrera to escape the jam.
After four scoreless innings, Mission Viejo took the lead in the top of the fifth, when two infield errors and two singles threatened to detour Oxnard’s postseason run.
After Mars Ruvalcaba scored the first run of the game on an infield error, Oxnard limited the damage with two huge plays in the field.
Third baseman Godoy cut down another run at the plate and Haros snagged a two-out, bases-loaded line drive into right field which would have cleared the bases.
“We may have gotten frustrated,” Herrera said. “We may have gotten mad. But at the end of the day we came back. We were playing as a team, rather than as individuals.”
With starting catcher Raelene Rangel and starting first baseman Shyanne Saxton out of the lineup with injuries suffered during the postseason, Valentina Garcia came into the lineup at catcher, Jazzlene Dominguez moved from left field to first base and JV callup Aubrey Garcia played left field.
And they performed in big moments for Oxnard.
“That’s why the girls go to practice every day,” Tinoco said. “Their time can be called.”
“(Garcia) did well … considering she really never caught in a game all season, just in practice.”
After limited Oxnard to four baserunners through four innings, Billings ran into trouble with two outs in the bottom of the fifth.
Haros and Mukul ripped line-drive singles into the outfield to bring Godoy up to the plate with two on and two out.
Mission Viejo had tried to stay away from Godoy, walking her on four pitches in the first inning and staying on the outside corner to induct a ground ball fielder’s choice in the third.
“She hit her spots really well,” Godoy said of Billings.
Godoy made the adjustment, smashing a 1-0 outside fastball the opposite way for a game-turning three-run home run to left-center field.
“I took it where it was pitched,” Godoy said. “It was trusting all the work I’ve put in my entire life. Making those small adjustments makes a big difference.”
Herrera retired the next five batters she faced to bring Oxnard within an out of the championship.
After Riley Campbell singled to left field with two outs in the top of the seventh to extend the game, Herrera induced a game-ending groundout to Dominguez at first and threw her glove into the air in celebration.
“I knew our time would come because we’re so together and we put on so much work,” Godoy said. “We were on a roll and we just went with it.
“I just knew our time would come.”
Joe Curley covers softball for The Star. He can be reached at joe.curley@vcstar.com. For more coverage, follow @vcspreps on Twitter/X, Instagram/Threads, Facebook, Bluesky and TikTok.
This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Godoy, Herrera power Oxnard to first CIF-SS softball title
Reporting by Joe Curley, Ventura County Star / Ventura County Star
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
