Palos Verdes Estates, CA — The @jserra.softball team is one win away from playing for a CIF title, as the Lions defeated the Palos Verdes Sea Queens 7-1 in the quarterfinals of the CIF-SS Division 2 playoffs on Wednesday at Palos Verdes High School in Palos Verdes Estates. JSerra is now 18-13 and will travel to Great Oak on Saturday for the semifinals. The Lions jumped out to a 1-0 lead in the top of the first inning. Senior Brooke Stephens opened the game with a single to left and stole second base, before freshman Annabel Raftery blasted a first pitch double to deep center field to score Stephens. Freshman Melia Munoz helped keep the Sea Queens off the scoreboard in the second inning. She opened the inning with a great over the shoulder running catch in shallow left field, and later in the inning, threw out a runner at home plate. Palos Verdes strung together three hits in the bottom of the fourth inning to tie the score at 1-1. The Lions broke the game open in the top of the sixth inning. Raftery started the rally with her third hit of the game, a double to left center. Munoz and senior Lauren Gaitley walked to load the bases for sophomore Brooklyn Lamb, who slapped a single to center field to score sophomore pitch runner Anneke Lukowski and Munoz to give the Lions a 3-1 lead. Freshman Madeline Capek followed with a booming double to left field to plate Gaitley and push the Lions’ advantage to 4-1. Freshman Ava Van Heerde capped the inning with an RBI bunt single to score Lamb for the fourth run of the inning. After Raftery’s fourth hit of the game, Munoz put the exclamation point on the Lions triumph when she blasted a two-run home run over the wall in left field. Sophomore Abby Ford started and struck out five batters in 3.1 innings, with junior Liliana Escobar pitching the final 3.2 innings in relief to get the victory. #lionnation #GoLions #jserrasoftball #jserraathletics #faith #intellect #character #pride #sports