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JSerra softball gets past Yucaipa in first round of playoffs

May 15, 2026

SAN JUAN CAPISTRANO – Sometimes, the best plan is to just take care of yourself and let everything else sort itself out.

That was the formula for JSerra on Thursday in the first round of the CIF Southern Section Division 1 softball playoffs.

JSerra took care of business. It hit the ball, it fielded the ball, it scored more runs than Yucaipa. The Lions took a 3-2 victory on an afternoon that could have been their last of the season.

Instead, JSerra put the ball in play, and the jitters, nerves – whatever you want to call it – that Yucaipa brought with it on its 60-mile bus ride was the downfall of the Thunderbirds.

After Annabel Raftery’s leadoff double in the bottom of the first inning, Yucaipa committed three errors. Two throwing errors came on Magenta De Arte’s pop single to left that staked JSerra to a 2-0 lead.

JSerra catcher Annabel Raftery had two hits and drove in one run in the Lions' 3-2 victory over Norco in the first round of the CIF-SS Division 1 playoffs Thursday, May 14, 2026. (Photo by Martin Henderson) — JSerra catcher Annabel Raftery had two hits and drove in one run in the Lions’ 3-2 victory over Norco in the first round of the CIF-SS Division 1 playoffs Thursday, May 14, 2026. (Photo by Martin Henderson)

JSerra added another run in the second inning on what was scored a bunt single followed by a two-out RBI by Raftery.

Yucaipa didn’t think JSerra scored any earned runs against pitcher Brooklyn Dent. Earned or not, JSerra had three total, which was one more than it needed.

“Our chemistry was a little off in the first inning,” Thunderbirds coach Alyssa Liu said. “I think they were in their heads to come here, I don’t think they were ready. We started scared. Nerves is all it was.

“As coaches, we knew it was going to be a close game. We wanted to play them. We weren’t scared to play them. We knew it was going to be a good game, and it was a great game.”

Yucaipa’s scoring was a bit more decisive and gave the Thunderbirds a real chance at an upset. In the fourth inning, cleanup hitter Liberty Waysz belted a one-out double to left field. An out later, Sophia Bicondova cleared the center field fence — marked at 210 feet — into the wind to make it a 3-2 score.

It gave life to Yucaipa (21-7-1), but set up the Thunderbirds to forever look back at the pivotal first inning and wonder “What if?”

JSerra (21-8) won’t lose any sleep over it. The Lions move into the second round against the winner of Ayala and Charter Oak. JSerra will play Ayala at home or Charter Oak on the road.

JSerra lost in the Division 2 finals last season, and the Division 1 semifinals the year before.

“We have the potential to win the whole thing, we have the talent,” JSerra coach Katie Stith said. “We know we can play with any of them. We’re trying to go to the end. That’s our standard. We just have to worry about ourselves, staying loose, not trying to do too much, and sticking to what we do.”

The thing they do is win.

JSerra senior Liliana Escobar gave up two earned runs in seven innings with eight strikeouts and a walk. She allowed five hits.

“Once we got those two runs we were able to settle in a little bit, though we went a little flat,” Escobar said. “There’s always off days. I don’t think there was a specific reason for it.

“The two runs at the beginning were great, but we had to battle through the whole game. I don’t think there was a point in the game where we thought it was over until it was completely over.”

Dent, a junior committed to UNLV, gave up five hits with a walk and two strikeouts in six innings. Two of the hits were bunts that were beaten out.

JSerra softball gets past Yucaipa in first round of playoffs Orange County Register

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JSerra softball gets past Yucaipa in first round of playoffs

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