Finnerty's perfect game powers Moorpark softball team into CIF-SS Division 4 final

It wasn’t the turkey sub. It was the look on her face.

When Meaghan Stotts spotted Madison Finnerty at lunch Tuesday, the Moorpark High softball coach knew her sophomore ace was going to be tough to beat in that afternoon’s CIF-Southern Section Division 4 semifinal.

“She was locked in and ready to go,” Stotts said. “You couldn’t break her from the moment, probably from the moment she got up this morning.”

Finnerty threw a perfect game, striking out 13, to power the top-seeded Musketeers to their first sectional final in 16 years with a 5-0 win over visiting Northridge-Heritage Christian.

“This game in itself was special enough, the moment of bringing Moorpark back to the finals and the opportunity to compete for a CIF championship,” said Stott, who was a sophomore on the Moorpark team who fell to Santa Monica-Crossroads 2-1 in the 1996 Division V final.

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“But for Madison to do what she did on the mound today? ... Super proud of her.”

Finnerty said it was the first perfect game of her softball career.

“She was no nonsense,” Stott said. “She had a plan and she was executing it.”

Finnerty needed just 75 pitches to get 21 outs, throwing 55 strikes, to extend her postseason shutout streak to 23 innings.

“Not missing my spots helped me a lot,” Finnerty said. “Getting through the innings faster without walks helped throughout the game."

Moorpark (23-4) will face Temple City (23-6) in the Division 4 championship game Friday at 3:30 p.m. at Manning Stadium in Irvine.

“It means a lot,” Finnerty said. “I couldn’t have done it without my teammates on the field and hitting throughout the game.”

Sophomore Daniela Isarraras was 2 for 2 with an RBI, sophomore Driana Martinez drove in three runs and sophomore Shae Anderson and senior Caitlin Finnerty, Madison’s older sister, also had hits to give Moorpark all the offense it would need.

“The energy was really great the whole game,” Martinez said. “Madi was just unstoppable. She brings it.”

Moorpark scored all the runs it would need in the bottom of the first inning.

Madison Finnerty was hit by pitch, Isarraras walked and Martinez delivered a two-out, two-run double to the fence in right-center.

“I tried to stay calm,” Martinez said. “It was an 0-2 count. There was a lot of people watching, a lot of pressure. I’ve played in big moments. So I think that I was used to it. But it felt really great to help my team, especially in the first inning.”

Moorpark tacked on a third run in the third inning, when Anderson singled, stole second and scored on Isarraras’ two-out single to left field.

Finnerty had still faced in the minimum when Moorpark added two insurance runs in the bottom of the sixth.

After Madison Zulager walked and Isarraras doubled, Martinez plated Zulager with a sacrifice fly and Caitlin Finnerty followed with an RBI infield single.

It was around that time that Madison Finnerty realized she hadn’t allowed a baserunner.

After the first batter of the seventh inning lined out to shortstop Anderson, Finnerty completed her masterpiece with a pair of strikeouts.

“It means a lot,” Finnerty said. “We’re starting to put our name out there and that’s important, to show people we can do it.”

Moorpark’s first semifinal since the 2014, when it was powered by future University of Florida star Amanda Lorenz, was delayed by two days because of Moorpark’s role as host of the CIF-Southern Section track and field finals.

That put Stott in the awkward position of attending a CIF video meeting Tuesday morning for an event for which her team had yet to qualify.

“It was really uncomfortable for me to be in there,” Stott said. “I put my little symbol on and I almost wanted to pretend I wasn’t there. You’re sitting there and you have a job to do.”

With one job done, the Musketeers have earned another Friday afternoon.

Joe Curley covers softball for The Star. He can be reached at  joe.curley@vcstar.com. For more coverage of local high school sports, follow @vcspreps on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram.

This article originally appeared on Ventura County Star: Finnerty's perfect game powers Moorpark into CIF-SS Division 4 final