Wednesday, May 27, 2009 would be the perfect ending to a season of confirmation for the highly decorated San Pedro High softball program.

Left for dead by many at the start of the season after losing the greatest battery of all-time in three-time CIF-Los Angeles City Section Pitcher & Player Of The Year in pitcher Taylor Petty and catcher Perelini Koria, the Pirates were not among the favorites by the so-called experts to defend their three straight City titles. Not only that, many predicted that their Harbor Area neighbors Banning of Wilmington, a team with nine seniors, would be the team to dethrone them not only for the Marine League title, but was tabbed as the favorite to win it all in 2009.

These two rivals came to UCLA's Easton Stadium for the 2009 City Section finals and put on an incredible show in a game that featured four ties, four lead changes, outstanding defensive plays, and several clutch performances from both sides.

It was San Pedro's Kayla Monroy who would deliver with the biggest clutch moment of all.

Monroy's final at-bat of her four-year prep career only lasted one pitch, that she rocketed off the glove of Banning pitcher Jessica Lozano, and past shortstop Christina Chavez, allowing Holly Stevens to score the run that provided San Pedro their most unlikeliest, and perhaps the most exciting of their City Section championship wins, a 7-6 triumph over Banning that stunned the Pilots, and had the Pirates in celebration mode.

San Pedro would finish the 2009 season with a 28-4 record, win its fourth straight City Section title, also its ninth crown in ten seasons to cap off a decade of dominance, adding on to its City Section record with their unprecedented sixteenth title.

The Pirates also capped off a rare feat in defeating Banning for the fourth time in 2009, and 11th straight win overall over the Pilots.

"This is the one that counts," San Pedro pitcher Kailee Cuico said after being cuffed around for six earned runs on 12 hits by an aggressive Banning team, but still struck out four to earn her 20th win. "All the people who doubted us, all the hard work we put in, it was for this moment."

It was Cuico, who just finished her junior season at Oregon, who would fire the first salvo with a one-out RBI-single that gave San Pedro a 1-0 lead in the bottom of the first inning, but Banning quickly took control in the second inning with Marlene Tafoya's RBI-sacrifice fly, followed by Stephanie Aguirre's RBI-single, both coming with two outs. San Pedro would then reclaim the lead in the bottom of the fourth win an RBI-single from Kourtney Costa, and another run that came in when Brenda Santana couldn't get a firm grip on a ground ball hit by San Pedro's Trista Chavez.

Then the wheels seemed to fall off for the Pirates in the top of the fifth, as Chavez's RBI-double followed by a smashing bases-clearing three-run double down the left field line by Ana Cortez gave the Pilots a 6-3 lead that appeared to be insurmountable with the way Lozano was pitching, but no one dared to tell San Pedro that.

"I knew we were going to come back," San Pedro outfielder Bryana Simpson said.

Indeed, like seven other times in 2009, San Pedro did come back, and this one would start in the bottom of the sixth inning.

Monroy's single and a double from Chavez started the inning with runners on second and third base, two outs later, Chloe Oro beat out a throw to first for an RBI-infield single, then Banning second baseman Liz Melendrez dropped a sure inning-ending pop up from Cuico, allowing both Simpson and Oro to score, tying the game at 6-6.

Once the seventh inning came about, San Pedro's lone three seniors on the 2009 team would seize control.

In the top of the seventh, Simpson ran into the left-center field wall and made an ESPN 'Web Gem'-style of a bucket catch to rob Chavez of a sure lead-off double. Then in the bottom of the seventh, Stevens led off with a double and was advanced to third on Costa's sacrifice bunt.

Finally, San Pedro would dash the hearts of all the doubters, and touch the hearts of all their fans when Monroy sliced her winning hit off Lozano's glove, finishing off San Pedro's remarkable comeback, and phenomenal decade where they went 281-28-1 from 2000-2009, winning the Marine League championship and reaching the City Section finals every single year, winning all but once (losing 2-0 in eight innings to El Camino Real of Woodland Hills in 2005).

"I was so excited," said Monroy, who went 2-for-4 at the plate. "I knew Holly was a smart runner and I knew she was going to score. We had this once we got close enough and I was like 'Thank God'. The softball gods were certainly with us today."

Aguirre, Santana and Cortez all had three hits each for Banning, and Stevens went 2-for-4 with a double and a run scored for San Pedro, who defeated Hollywood, Grant of Van Nuys, Marshall of Los Angeles and Granada Hills on the way to claiming their fourth straight City championship.

San Pedro coach Tony Dobra would also claim his 13th City Section title as the Pirates' coach.