CHINO HILLS - Earlier in the week the Mary Star High softball team appeared to have their remarkable season end after a 1-0, nine-inning loss to Shadow Hills of Indio in a CIF-Southern Section Division 6 second round game... until Shadow Hills was caught red-handed with an illegal batting practice they were engaged in prior to the game.

As a result, the CIF disqualified Shadow Hills, Mary Star got a forfeit, and a second chance.

That second chance came in the form of a quarterfinal game at top-seeded Pomona Catholic at the Big League Dreams Field in Chino Hills. How did the Stars use that second chance?

Well...

Mary Star took it to last year's CIF-SS Division 7 champions in a lot of aspects before pulling off a remarkable 5-0 upset victory over the Pacers to advance to their first semifinal appearance in school history. Even just as remarkable as this resounding victory is that the Stars won a coin flip for the right to host that semifinal on Tuesday against Rosamond at the San Pedro Softball Complex.

Sophomore pitcher Marina Vitalich was at her dominant best, hurling a two-hit shutout with 13 strikeouts, walking none, while also going 2-for-4 at the plate. Vitalich only faced two batters over the minimum for the game.

Sophomore shortstop Lexie Geich gave the Stars (18-8 overall) an early 1-0 lead in the first inning with her two-out RBI-single that drove in Vitalich. Senior first baseman Mariah Marquez's RBI-single in the top of the fifth drove home fellow senior third baseman Cassie Demers. And then came the biggest blow of the day...

Demers laced into a pitch and hammered it over the center field fence for a three-run home run in the top of the seventh for the final exclamation point on Mary Star's impressive elimination of Pomona Catholic (20-10).

Demers finished 2-for-3 with a home run, double, two runs scored and 3 RBIs for Mary Star.

Senior second baseman Rikki Legaspi-Valdez said it best in a Facebook status update...

"Thank you God for this second chance."