Norco, CA — The @jserra.softball team has successfully traveled the postseason pathway back to the CIF-SS championship game, as the Lions blanked the Norco Cougars 2-0 in a CIF-SS Division 1 semifinals game on Saturday at Norco High School in Norco. JSerra has won eight of its’ last nine games and improves to 24-8 on the season. The Lions will take on La Mirada in the Division 1 championship game next weekend at Bill Barber Memorial Park in Irvine. The exact day and game time will be determined by the CIF-SS early next week. Senior Liliana Escobar kicked off a dominant performance in the circle by making program history in the bottom of the first inning. Her second strikeout of the inning was her 240th of the season, breaking her previous single-season school record of 239 set last year. Sophomore Annabel Raftery once again lit the spark for the Lions offense in the top of the third inning, as she blasted a 1-0 pitch high over the wall in left field, her program-record 12th of the season, to give JSerra a 1-0 lead. Junior Brooklyn Lamb followed by reaching on an error and then smartly advanced to third following a sacrifice fly to right field by senior Zena Edwards. Freshman Magenta De Arte came through with a big two-out swing of the bat, as she slashed an RBI single to center field to plate Lamb for the second run of the inning. The two-run lead proved to be more than enough for Escobar (17-5), who completely silenced a Cougars' offensive that averaged six runs a game in their previous three playoff wins. She scattered three hits in seven shutout innings while striking out 14 batters, including the final Cougars batter of the game to seal the Lions return trip to the CIF-SS championship game. In three starts against Norco this season, Escobar struck out 39 batters. #lionnation #jserrasoftball #jserraathletics