LOS ANGELES — In April, after a second consecutive loss to Avocado League rival Sage Creek, Oceanside softball head coach Michael Romero had a message for his team.
“I told the girls that if we want to make a run and achieve our goals, we will have to fight from here on out,” Romero told The Coast News.
In Romero’s mind, that was the defining moment of the season.
“As a team, they had a meeting after that game,” he said. “Whatever they said, that was the switch that turned it on for them to say we are going to do this from here on out.”
On Saturday, Oceanside defeated Garfield High School on the road in East Los Angeles, 15-4, capturing the Division IV CIF SoCal Regional championship for the first time in school history. The Pirates (25-6-1) also claimed their second-ever CIF championship and the first since 2000.
“Just about every player had family members or some sort of [previous] connection with Oceanside High School,” said Romero, a former Oceanside High baseball player who was hired as head coach in 2019 after spending time as a volunteer assistant. “If I was going to coach and enjoy this game, I was going to do it at home. This is special.”
Assistant coach Joe Nuanez was with the team as an assistant in 2000, when his dad, also Joe, was the head coach. Nuanez — Romero’s cousin — and his daughter, Nalia, are the team’s senior shortstops.
“I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for them,” Romero said. “They introduced me to men’s fast-pitch softball, and that’s how I fell in love with the game.”
The Pirates broke the game open in the top of the third, sending 13 batters to the plate and scoring nine runs, breaking a 1-1 deadlock.
Senior infielder Mikayla Poumele-Flores started the onslaught with a two-run double to left field. Senior third baseman Kayden Faletoi knocked in two with a single, and then a Nuanez triple cleared the bases.
Poumele-Flores launched her eighth home run of the year to help close Garfield out.
The Pirates bats had been particularly hot all season, with senior Taylor Armstrong adding seven home runs of her own.
“We knew we were a good hitting team as long as we stayed disciplined and played our game,” Romero said. “If it took playing small ball and dropping bunts to make things happen, we could. We had our power hitters leading us in home runs and dropping bunts down to move runners and score a run. All those little things – they were willing to do whatever it took to win this title.”
Winners of 16 of their previous 17 games, the Pirates were astonishingly down to one healthy arm for the final several weeks after losing ace pitcher and 12-game-winner Izabella Gobea to injury.
Sophomore Nayeli Adame stepped up, pitching 81 consecutive innings and recording every single out possible since May 6.
“Unfortunately, our No. 1 pitcher did go down,” Romero said. “[Izabella Gobea] got us to that point up until the last few games of league play. Nayeli would come in and take some innings when we had a lead. She hadn’t primarily been a pitcher until her freshman year; we lacked pitching. We had other girls that could maybe throw an inning or two, but it was kind of like, ‘Hey Nayeli, here are the keys to the ship. She fought through it and showed a lot of heart.”
Adame finished the season 10-2 from the circle with a 1.98 ERA, according to MaxPreps.
“It was exciting and happened fast,” an emotional Romero said. “I wanted the girls to enjoy the moment as much as they could. As I see the [social media] posts over the last few hours, it really starts hitting. It means a lot.”
