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JSerra softball finds redemption, beats La Mirada for first CIF-SS title

May 30, 2026

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JSerra players celebrate by tossing their CIF patches in the air after beating La Mirada 3-2 to win the CIF-SS Division 1 championship in Irvine on Friday, May 29, 2026. (Photo by Jeff Antenore, Orange County Register/SCNG)

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IRVINE — JSerra’s softball team returned Friday to the scene of its heartbreak last season and quickly changed the script.

After going 10 innings without scoring a run in the CIF-SS finals last spring, the Lions scored in the first inning of the Division 1 championship with Zena Edwards sliding across home plate.

Last May, JSerra had the potential winning run thrown out at the plate in the final. This time, Ava Van Heerde beat a throw to the plate in the second inning.

Redemption seemed to be in the cool, evening air at Deanna Manning Stadium as JSerra dueled La Mirada.

Liliana Escobar made sure the Lions seized it.

The senior escaped several jams to toss a five-hitter with 12 strikeouts to lead JSerra past La Mirada 3-2 for its first section title.

Escobar recorded the final out in the seventh on a strikeout to strand the tying and go-ahead runs on first and second base.

After being swarmed by catcher Annabel Raftery and her teammates, Escobar hoisted the game ball that eluded her last season in a 3-0 loss to Los Alamitos in a dramatic Division 2 final.

“I’m really happy to have done this for my teammates, for my school,” Escobar said amid tears. “I’m definitely sad it’s the last time I’ll play with some of my teammates. I’ve made amazing friends with these people so I couldn’t be happier to play with them. I love my teammates and I couldn’t be happier to be a Lion.”

“My team definitely came through with runs this year,” the University of Florida commit added. “I was not going to let (La Mirada) come out here and just beat us.”

JSerra (25-8) staked Escobar to an early 3-0 lead but No. 4 seeded La Mirada (26-5) challenged the reigning O.C. pitcher of the year.

In the third, La Mirada used a single and two walks to load the bases with two outs but Escobar escaped when shortstop Angie Jimenez snapped a line drive.

La Mirada scored twice in the fifth but Escobar limited the damage. After one run scored, she held the Matadores to a run-scoring sacrifice fly after they loaded the bases with no outs.

Escobar (18-5) struck out the side in the sixth and recorded three consecutive outs in the seventh after La Mirada’s Reese Hilliard singled and her twin sister Riley walked.

“To see what Liliana has done this year, to culminate into that moment, was pretty special,” JSerra coach Katie Stith said of Escobar, who finished with a school-record 264 strikeouts. “To see her do that and to see the girls have her back and compete was really special.”

“It was different (this year),” the coach added. “I’m just really proud. There was never a moment where they looked defeated or they looked overwhelmed or they looked intimated. They just really worked together.”

Edwards scored in the first on a two-out single by freshman Magenta De Arte, who capitalized on an error earlier in the inning.

Van Heerde scored from first base in the second on a two-out single to the right-center gap by freshman No. 9 batter Ava Born.

Van Heerde, one of the two quarterbacks on the Lions’ Division 1 champion flag football team, muscled her way into home plate to make it 2-0.

“I went through (the catcher) … It was the football in me,” said Van Heerde, who suffered a bloody lip on the play. “I just have to go and make it happen. Doing it for my team.”

Raftery followed Born’s single with a double off the fence in left to extend the lead to 3-0.

JSerra finished with five hits against La Mirada pitcher Alison Ortega. The Lions also received singles from Brooklyn Lamb and Edwards.

“It was the want we had and the determination we had all year,” Van Heerde said. “We did it for our pitcher, Liliana Escobar. She is an animal. She gets it done. She carried us.”

Both teams have opted out of next week’s CIF Southern California Regional.

JSerra softball finds redemption, beats La Mirada for first CIF-SS title Orange County Register

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JSerra softball finds redemption, beats La Mirada for first CIF-SS title

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