Her Final Pitch

Make no mistake. Taryne Mowatt knows the position she’s in.

She has been reading about herself for four years. She has won games, grabbed headlines and set standards that place her among the Southern Section’s all-time great pitchers.

But she has not won a softball title at Corona Santiago.

The playoff drive began Wednesday for Southern Section teams, and Mowatt is driven by one thought: winning a section title before she graduates.

“I hear about it all the time from people at the school,” Mowatt said. “Everyone at school knows about how good our team is. They’re like, ‘You’ve got to win [the title].’ It’s always in the back of my mind.”

Though Santiago won a Division IV title in 1998, two seasons before Mowatt arrived, the Sharks have not returned to a championship game since. They opened the playoffs Thursday with an 8-0 victory over Glendale.

Santiago entered the playoffs as the top-seeded team in Division II last season but lost to Diamond Bar in the quarterfinals. The Sharks, currently ranked eighth in the nation by the National Fastpitch Coaches Assn., have been surprisingly vulnerable at the end of this season: They lost two of their last three games, to Norco and Corona, in the Mountain View League.

“It’s kind of frustrating knowing we have the potential to win but fall short,” Mowatt said. “This team realizes how much potential it has. We had a wake-up call and we’re ready to work hard.”

Whether that’s true will be determined over the next few weeks. But winning a softball championship is among the most difficult of any sport. Games are dominated by pitching, and there is such little margin for error that one mistake can be the difference between victory and defeat.

Games are often lost, rather than won, along the way.

“A lot of luck goes into it,” Mowatt said. “I’ve known pitchers who have thrown no-hitters and lost games. I’ve lost one-hitters. I’ve lost games where the other team scored without getting a hit.”

Her coach, John Perez, agreed that talent isn’t the only factor in determining a section champion over a five-game, single-elimination format.

“There’s a lot of luck involved,” Perez said. “People need to understand that. There’s a lot of luck involved when you win a lot of games.”

Winning is something Santiago and Mowatt have done well over four years.

The Sharks were 23-2 in 2001, 22-6 in 2002, 24-4 in 2003. They are 24-3 this season.

Mowatt, who missed four games after getting hit in the shoulder with a line drive, is 20-3 with an 0.31 earned-run average and has 270 strikeouts in 180 innings.

All of which emphasizes the point: Win the title or end in inglorious defeat.

Last year, Santiago was on the sidelines as Norco, the third-place team from the Mountain View League, went on to win the Division II championship. Sure, Santiago won the league title, but Norco painted “CIF Champions” in giant letters on its outfield wall.

So this is where Mowatt stands. She is 87-16 with an 0.31 ERA over four seasons, and is averaging 10.8 strikeouts and allowing 1.6 hits per seven innings. The 66 shutouts in her career, though not a record, are three fewer than Lisa Fernandez and eight more than Michele Granger.

But she has no title.

“It would make my high school career complete,” Mowatt said. “I think that’s pretty much the only thing missing.”

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Early Exits

Corona Santiago’s Taryne Mowatt has won 87 games in four seasons but is facing her last chance to pitch the Sharks to a Southern Section softball title. A look at Santiago’s postseason record in Mowatt’s first three seasons:

*--* Round Opponent Result 2001 (DIVISION I) 1st Valley View Lost, 2-0 2002 (DIVISION I) 1st Ayala Won, 3-2 2nd Warren Won, 2-1 (9 innings) QF Paramount Won, 3-0 SF Etiwanda Lost, 2-0 (9 innings) 2003 (DIVISION II) 1ST St. Lucy’s Won, 1-0 (9 innings) 2nd Villa Park Won, 1-0 QF Diamond Bar Lost, 1-0

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