Whittier Christian’s senior pitcher Courtney McGee turned in her final dominant performance as a member of the Herald’s softball program as she led her team to a second consecutive CIF-SS Division 5 championship behind a 4-0 victory over South Hills High, Friday afternoon at Deanna Manning Stadium in Irvine.

Not only did the senior strike out eight batters while in the pitching circle, she helped her own cause at the plate with a double that sailed over the head of Huskies’ right fielder Tiffany Rivas, which drove in two runs in the 3rd inning. The Cal Baptist commit finished 1-for-2 with the double and an intentional walk.

“I just knew that I was going to battle and that I wasn’t going to go down without swinging,” McGee said. “It feels great, we talked all year about wanting to go back-to-back and all us seniors wanted to leave something that we will be remembered by.”

Kat Mardene, the No. 9 hitter in the lineup, hit 2-for-3 and started another two-run rally in the 5th inning. Leadoff hitter Amanda Perez reached base twice and scored each time.

With two outs and the bases loaded, second baseman Bekah Kikuchi slapped a single toward the left side, but a throwing error by South Hills would allow Mandie Perez to score from second, doubling the Herald’s lead to 4-0.

The deficit and McGee’s continued success in the circle proved to be too much for the Huskies to overcome.

Coming into the contest, South Hills had put up a staggering 282 runs on the season, including 54 in the playoffs heading into the championship game. Whittier Christian on the other hand had won its first three playoff games by one run—taking each of the first two games to 9 innings. The offense broke out the bats for Village Christian with an 8-0 victory and perhaps had found a rhythm.

But South Hills were faced a Heralds team that had only given up 39 runs all season and McGee kept them off balance, consistently working the outside corner and making the Huskies swing at bad pitches. All eight of her strikeouts were swinging.