Cerritos Defends Division II Title

Senior left-hander Jessica van der Linden pitched a three-hitter and struck out seven and Nichole Maddox drove in two runs with a fourth-inning single as Cerritos High won its second consecutive Southern Section Division II softball championship with a 4-1 victory over Corona on Saturday at Mayfair Park in Lakewood.

Top-seeded Cerritos (31-2) handed third-seeded Corona (28-4) all of its losses this season.

Van der Linden (25-2), a member of Puerto Rico’s national team who will play next year at Florida State, pitched despite a pulled muscle in her rib cage that she said caused her to be in pain on every pitch.

Corona took a 1-0 lead in the first inning when Panther shortstop Dena Tyson drew a leadoff walk and scored from third two outs later on pitcher Kristi De Vries’ infield single.

With one out in the fourth, Cerritos’ Sara Winters and van der Linden reached on consecutive throwing errors by Tyson. Maddox followed with a single off Tyson’s glove. The Dons scored twice in the fifth on a run-scoring single by Julie Hoshizaki and a Winters RBI groundout.

De Vries (28-3), who will attend Ohio State, pitched a three-hitter and struck out 10.