Back in February, one week into practice, Carlsbad High School softball coach Jared Miller called his players into the team room.
“We set our goals, knew we had the talent to win a section championship,” said Miller. “As players and coaches, that was the expectation.”
On Friday night at the University of San Diego softball field, that goal and expectation morphed into reality.
Behind the three-hit, 12-strikeout, shutout performance by junior pitcher Sophia Tillis, No. 1-seeded Carlsbad beat 10th-seeded Scripps Ranch 3-0 to win the CIF San Diego Section Division 2 championship.
It’s Carlsbad’s fifth section title, and the Lancers’ first since 2017.
Tillis, who has committed to UC San Diego, stands only 5-foot-2. But she came up huge on high school’s biggest stage.
The three hits she allowed didn’t leave the infield. Center fielder Gabby Nevarez recorded the only two putouts by outfielders. Tillis punctuated her performance in style, striking out the last three batters.
“That was special,” said Miller. “She continues to just grind it out. She’s a special athlete and knows when to step it up.”
Carlsbad improved to 21-6. Tillis owns 20 of the wins against one loss. She lowered her ERA to 1.09 and has struck out 229 in 128 1/3 innings.
“Her performance was phenomenal, and it has been all year,” said Nevarez, a senior who has signed with the University of Arizona. “She’s been a rock to this team. She always stays calm under pressure. Tonight, she showed what a college athlete looks like.”
Scripps Ranch coach Jeff Gray tipped his cap to Tillis.
“You can look at as much film as you can, but it doesn’t match the reality,” said Gray, whose 10th-seeded team is 18-11-1. “She was tough.”
The game was scoreless going into the bottom of the third. After Autumn Muro singled, the left-handed Nevarez cracked a no-doubter home run that caromed off a tree behind the 220-foot sign in center field.
Two batters later, sophomore Kendall Rivera went the opposite way, smoking a home run off the scoreboard in right field. The homer was Rivera’s first of the season. She went 3-for-3 to pump her batting average to .443.
For Nevarez, the home run capped a special season. She batted .494 as a freshman, then “slumped” to .302 as a sophomore. She didn’t play last season as a junior to focus on different aspects of her game.
The home run Friday was her 15th of the season, tops in the section. She hit a combined three home runs as a freshman and sophomore. She’s batting .487.
“I came back for my senior year just for the love of the game,” said Nevarez. “I missed not playing last spring. I wanted to end with a bang.”
University of Nevada-bound catcher Chloe Hernandez turned in a memorable performance. She threw out one runner trying to steal third, another attempting to swipe second and picked off a runner at first base.
Yelled a fan to Hernandez as the Lancers celebrated on the field, “No one’s ever going to try to run on you again.”