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Marina softball rallies past Los Alamitos in Sunset League thriller

March 29, 2026

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LOS ALAMITOS — Marina softball ace Mia Valbuena screamed and ripped off her pitcher’s mask as she struck out the final Los Alamitos batter. She then quickly found catcher Gabriella DiBenedetto and delivered a huge hug.

Valbuena won her share of big games last season in leading the Vikings to a CIF-SS championship but the senior found plenty of excitement in a riveting 2-1 victory at Los Alamitos on Saturday in the Sunset League.

Not only did Marina rally for two runs in the seventh inning to win a clash of reigning section champions, the Vikings defeated Los Alamitos for the first time since 2019.

“We haven’t beat Los Al the four years that I’ve been here,” said Valbuena, who fired a two-hitter with 16 strikeouts. “It’s always kind of been our goal. We won CIF last year but we still didn’t win league. We still didn’t get those key games against Huntington (Beach) and Los Al.”

“That’s really our goal this year,” she added. “We want to go far in CIF but our No. 1 goal right now is focusing on league.”

Ranked No. 8 in Orange County, Marina (12-3, 5-0) scored the go-ahead run against No. 7 Los Alamitos (8-7, 4-1) on a one-out, bases loaded single to center by Valbuena’s twin sister Avi.

The hit capped a seventh inning in which the Vikings united to chase sophomore starter Jaliane Brooks, one of the stars of the Griffins’ Division 2 title run last season.

After a leadoff walk by No. 9 batter Sophia Capelle, Eva Mazzotti laid down a sacrifice bunt that sent pinch-runner Jolie Densmore — a recently cleared transfer from Cypress — racing from first base all the way to third. The base was left uncovered until Los Alamitos left fielder Ryann Velazquez arrived to help.

After Marina’s Olivia Archer drew another walk to chase Brooks, DiBenedetto tied the score 1-1 by driving in Densmore on a well-placed squeeze bunt. Mia Valbuena collected her second single to load the bases and set the stage for her sister.

“I was just focusing on making adjustments from my first at-bat on,” said Avi Valbuena, who also had two hits for the reigning CIF Division 3 champion. “We all just try to keep on going. Even if Sophia wasn’t getting strikes, she made sure to have a good eye and foul (pitches) off and she got on base to start it off.”

“That really excited us that we weren’t going to give up,” the Chattanooga commit added. “We really wanted it.”

Marina overcome a few other setbacks. In the fourth, Velazquez threw out a runner at the plate in a defensive gem with catcher Jordan Castrellon.

Los Alamitos road the momentum in the bottom of the fourth as Erin Denny launched a home run, the first surrendered by Mia Valbuena this season, for a 1-0 lead.

“That’s one of things I’ve been working on the past three years — trying to stay at that high level if something like that (home run) happens,” said Mia Valbuena, a Michigan signee who didn’t allow another hit. “That was a really good feeling coming back from that.”

Marina made its own defensive gem in the third. With the base loaded and one out, Los Alamitos popped up a bunt that third baseman Kimmie McDonnell snagged and alertly tossed to shortstop Mazzotti covering third base for an inning-ending double play.

“There were peaks and valleys in the whole game,” Los Alamitos coach Rob Weil said. “The biggest thing is against a team like this, you just can’t walk batters.”

“We’re young,” the coach added. “We’re competing. That’s all I can ask.”

Orange County Register

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Marina softball rallies past Los Alamitos in Sunset League thriller

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