Thousand Oaks Gains 4-A Final in Softball

No one was going to stop the Thousand Oaks High softball team from advancing to its first-ever Southern Section 4-A championship game. Not even the Lancers’ own coach.

With two outs in the third inning of the Lancers’ 3-1 victory Tuesday over Ocean View, Thousand Oaks’ Julie Chellevold took off from second base on Jamie Heggen’s single to right field. Thousand Oaks Coach Chuck Brown signaled for Chellevold to stop at third.

“Actually, I was trying to make up my mind,” Brown said.

Chellevold’s mind was made up. The junior catcher ran right through Brown’s stop sign and beat right fielder Jennifer Phillips’ throw to the plate. When the ball got past catcher Korrie Bacon, Chellevold’s sister, Amy, scored all the way from first.

The play wiped out a 1-0 deficit and propelled Thousand Oaks to the win at Borchard Park in Newbury Park. Thousand Oaks (23-8), which finished third in the Marmonte League, will play Cypress, a 1-0 winner over Marina, for the championship at 8 p.m. Saturday at Mayfair Park in Lakewood. This is the first time in the school’s 25-year history a team has advanced to the softball championship.

“She had up a head of steam,” Brown said. “I’m glad she didn’t stop. If we didn’t score, a play like that could really have changed the game’s momentum.”

Without Chellevold’s aggressive baserunning, Thousand Oaks would have come away empty in the inning. The Lancers’ next batter, Angie Gregoire, grounded out to end the inning.

“I couldn’t really stop,” Chellevold said. “Everything just happened so fast. You just kind of get going and block everything out.”

Ocean View (15-13), which finished fourth in the Sunset League, scored an unearned run in the second inning. Bacon, in an attempted steal of second, came around to score when Julie Chellevold’s throw got past second baseman Marsha Bour and center fielder Shani Smyth.

“In a game like this--a big pressure game--that can get a team down real quick,” Brown said. “But we didn’t get down.”

Thousand Oaks pitcher Shireen Campbell (13-6) kept Ocean View off-balance the rest of the game, limiting the Seahawks to four hits and striking out three. Thousand Oaks added a run in the sixth when Heggen stole home.