HIGH SCHOOL ROUNDUP:

After surviving four-straight one-run victories — three of which came in postseason play, the Ocean View High softball team enjoyed a breather Tuesday.

And of all things, it came in the semifinal round of the CIF-Southern Section Division IV playoffs.

Ocean View used a big third inning to gain control of a showdown with host Pomona Catholic and rode that outburst to an eventual 6-1 victory that put the No. 4-seeded Seahawks in the division final against Del Rey League champ Bishop Amat of La Puente.

The unseeded Lancers won their first two playoff games by a combined score of 43-0, edged No. 3-seed Alemany 1-0 in an 11-inning quarterfinal game May 22 and on Tuesday advanced to the final by beating host Downey 7-4.

The title game will be played at 12:30 p.m. Saturday at Deanna Manning Stadium in Irvine.

In the third, nine Ocean View batters reached the plate with Vanessa Cardoza starting things with a double, Nikole Afusia getting a run-scoring infield grounder and Brenna Klein delivering a two-RBI single.

“It is insane to thing that in all my years playing softball at Ocean View, we are going to the championship game in my last year,” Afusia said. “This game wasn’t as intense as our previous playoff games, and I was thinking, ‘Why can’t they all be like this?’ We’re so excited to be playing for a CIF championship.”

Prior to Tuesday’s win, Ocean View had one-run playoff victories at home against Bishop Montgomery (1-0) and Gahr (2-1) and beat Rowland (3-2) on the road.

Prior to beginning the playoffs, Ocean View capped a 10-0 Golden West League season with a 2-1 victory over Orange.

Pomona Catholic (19-13), the Christian League champion who eliminated top-seed La Quinta of La Quinta in last Thursday’s quarterfinal round, scored its lone run in the bottom of the fifth. But by that time Ocean View was already in command, leading 6-1.

Sophomore Holli Floetker improved to 17-1 by striking out seven.

“I expected this game to be a lot closer considering it was a semifinal game, but I felt like everyone on our team came out aggressively today and did a great job,” Floetker said.

Ocean View, which has won 18-straight game to improve to 28-1, now has one game left in what has already been a magical season.

“I can’t ask for anything more from this team,” said sophomore Autumn Martinez, a starting shortstop who had a hit and sacrifice bunt in Tuesday’s win.

Martinez played at Marina last year before transferring to Ocean View.

“This team is so close and I don’t think that I’ve enjoyed playing softball as much as I have this year,” she continued. “Our team, honestly, has been like a second family to me. It’s like playing a game you love with a bunch of your sisters, it’s that great.”

In the quarterfinal round on May 22, Ocean View rallied in the fourth inning and went on to score a 2-1 victory over visiting Gahr. With the game on the line and rain starting to fall, Floetker delivered.

Ocean View’s sophomore right-handed pitcher not only got out of a jam in the top of the seventh inning but she also burst the hopes of the Gladiators with a big fourth-inning hit. Both moments keyed the Seahawks’ 2-1 victory.

First, Floetker smashed a line-drive, two-run home run well past the fence in center-field with two-out in the bottom of the fourth that sent Ocean View to its first lead of the game.

The Seahawks wouldn’t trail again after Floetker clubbed her eighth home run of the year.

“I’m pretty sure it was an inside screwball I hit,” Floetker said of the pitch she sent toward a group of Ocean View fans sitting in the outfield. “It felt pretty good leaving my bat.”

After Floetker’s blast, she went on to tame the Gladiators in both the fifth and sixth innings and then got Amanda Marquez to pop out to second base to begin the top of the seventh before getting into some trouble.

An infield error and consecutive walks given up by Floetker resulted in Gahr loading the bases with two out. It was then that the rain began to fall more steadily as Floetker fell into a 2-0 pitch count against Devin Salmones. But she came back to throw three consecutive strikes to end the game.

“I was just trying to keep the ball dry,” Floetker said. “I really hadn’t noticed the rain until I looked down at the ground. It was awesome to get out of that inning. It was so much stress off of me.”

Floetker, meanwhile, gave up only one hit but walked eight.

In addition to Floetker’s game-winning homer, Afusia, Martinez, Brenna Klein, Brooke Hitchcock and Vanessa Cardoza all singled.

Gahr, champion of the San Gabriel Valley League, ended its year 18-13.

“It’s a huge win,” Floetker said. “Everyone is really excited. I don’t know if an Ocean View team has been to the semifinals before.”

The most successful Ocean View team was the 1985 Seahawks who, among others, were led by a junior pitcher named Jackie Oakley, went 32-0 and won the CIF-SS 4-A Division championship by beating then-Sunset League rival Westminster in the title game.