Mustangs finally prevail

For a photo gallery of this game, click here.

COSTA MESA — Emily Pulaski slid into home plate twice Friday, coming in head-first each time to score on a wild pitch and passed ball.

By the end of the game, if there was a contest to see which player had the dirtiest uniform, the Costa Mesa High senior would have easily been the winner.

Pulaski also made sure her Mustangs were winners in their Orange Coast League opener against cross-town rival Estancia, helping pitch Mesa to a 13-12, nine-inning win in the marathon game at Costa Mesa High.

Dirty uniform? No problem for the usual catcher who came in to pitch in the second inning, switching battery positions with fellow senior Brieanna Ramirez before going the rest of the way on the mound. She struck out nine in improving to 2-0.

“My uniform’s never really clean,” said Pulaski, who also went three for five with an RBI and scored three times. “It’s just stained permanently now.”

But it was that kind of gritty effort that helped the Mustangs (7-7), who trailed most of the game before rallying in the bottom of the ninth. Costa Mesa junior Brook Urmson’s bases-loaded single to left, on the first pitch she saw, scored freshman Alex Krohnfeldt and ended the game just after it had reached the three-hour mark.

“At first, I was kind of nervous,” Urmson said. “But I stepped up to the plate and was confident in myself. I knew I had to get the job done.”

The Mustangs did after Estancia (8-6), the defending league champion, had jumped out to leads of 4-0, 6-2 and 8-5. Lizzie Milne’s RBI groundout in the bottom of the fourth scored Krohnfeldt, then Pulaski scored on a passed ball to bring Mesa within a run.

Costa Mesa took a 10-8 lead in the sixth. Ramirez’s bloop single to right scored Deanna Byers, and Pulaski scored on a wild pitch. Ramirez then scored on Urmson’s bunt, as the umpire ruled the Estancia catcher had committed obstruction on the play at the plate.

“[Estancia’s] girls came to play from the first pitch,” Costa Mesa Coach Marcus Franco said. “I was really proud of how our girls responded, though. They responded every time we were down. They battled back, battled back, battled back, and that’s what you look for.”

But the Eagles bounced back. With one out in the seventh, Courtney Ulrich was hit by a pitch. Amy Hartwell, who was three for five with a double, then singled.

The Mustangs had intentionally walked Estancia senior Taylor West each of her previous two at-bats, but this time she launched a two-run double to the wall in left-center, tying the score at 10-10.

“I was expecting another intentional walk,” said West, who also had a triple in the game and totaled three RBIs. “It felt really nice hitting the ball and tying the game up. I’m proud that we got that far, it’s just that next time we’ve got to get them.”

Haylee Whitney’s seeing-eye single up the middle scored West, then Whitney came across when Nicole Marlborough’s single rolled by the Costa Mesa right fielder.

It looked like Estancia would win, but the Mustangs again responded. Tamy Cerrato singled leading off the bottom of the seventh, and Byers struck out, but reached on a passed ball. Krohnfeldt then stroked a double to left to again tie the score at 12-12.

“I was thinking, ‘Do I have to pitch even more?’ ” Pulaski said. “It was tough. They’ve always been tough. Taylor and a couple of their other girls, like Amy, they can hit the ball. We knew it would be a close game.”

Byers, Krohnfeldt, Cerrato and second baseman Sami Feinstein, who made several nifty fielding plays Friday, are all freshmen for Costa Mesa. Estancia, by comparison, started just one freshman.

Pulaski was a model in staying calm on the mound, though, smiling plenty even when things weren’t going the Mustangs’ way.

“We’re relying on six freshmen,” Franco said. “You need a girl who’s been playing the game for a while to have a calming influence, and Emily does that with our girls. She’s like an assistant coach for me out here. She has great leadership qualities. She wants to be a teacher someday, and I try to give her leadership situations and let her take off.”

The Mustangs finally ended it in the ninth, as Krohnfeldt reached on a leadoff single for her fifth time on base, including three walks. Pulaski reached on an error, and Estancia intentionally walked Ramirez to load the bases.

Eagles senior Abby Koff got a strikeout, but Urmson got the game-winning hit a pitch later.

“From the first to the ninth inning, we probably gave them about 10 extra at-bats with the errors and decisions we made,” Estancia Co-Coach Tommy Rausch said. “You let a team bat three extra innings, and they’re going to beat you. We really are resilient, but the sad part about that is that we put ourselves in a lot of those situations.”

Byers and Ramirez were both two for five for Mesa, combining for five RBIs. Cerrato had a pair of hits and scored twice.

Whitney, Koff and Ulrich all had two hits for Estancia.

Orange Coast League

Costa Mesa 13, Estancia 12 (nine innings)

SCORE BY INNINGS

Hartwell, Koff (6) and Whitney; Ramirez, Pulaski (2) and Pulaski, Ramirez (2). W – Pulaski, 2-0. L – Koff, 1-1. 2B – Koff (E), Hartwell (E), Ulrich (E), West (E), Byers (CM), Krohnfeldt (CM). 3B – West (E).

MATT SZABO may be reached at (714) 966-4614 or by e-mail at matthew.szabo@latimes.com.