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GARDEN GROVE — Pacifica’s standout sophomores are quickly becoming seasoned softball veterans.

The second-ranked Mariners showed that again Wednesday by rallying from an early two-run deficit to beat No. 8 Marina 4-2 in a nonleague game at Pacifica High.

In a pairing of schools that played an 11-inning thriller in the CIF-SS Division 1 playoffs last season, Pacifica (12-3) recovered behind the pitching of Brynne Nally, the base running of Kaniya Bragg and hitting of Delaina Ma’ae and Kayli Counts.

All four players are sophomores.

“I feel like we’re getting seasoned and we’re getting where we need to be,” said Pacifica coach Tony Arduino, whose squad edged Marina 3-2 in the first round of the playoffs in June.

“But I think we still make those young-player mistakes, so we’re just trying to get better each time we come out.”

In the second inning, the Vikings (6-5) capitalized on an inning-opening error, a stellar bunt single by sophomore Rylee Gonzalez and two wild pitches to take a 2-0 lead.

Nally (10-3) responded to the deficit by seemingly getting stronger, retiring the next 12 batters. She punctuated the victory by striking out the final two batters.

Nally finished with a four-hitter, 10 strikeouts and no walks.

She said the experience her team gained last season while reaching the Division 1 quarterfinals makes rallies like the one Wednesday possible.

“We came back quite a few times last year,” she said, “so I think it was really just natural for us to come back.”

“This a big rivalry,” she added. “And doing what we did last year (in CIF against Marina), it was very important to come out and do it again.”

Ma’ae sparked the Mariners’ three-run third with a booming RBI single off the fence in left to score speedy leadoff batter Rory Schuck (2 for 4). Ma’ae, a catcher and cleanup batter, stayed hot after hitting three home runs at the Dave Kops Tournament of Champions in Arizona last week.

Junior Elizabeth Sigala drove in the tying run with a two-out single to right that scored Bragg, who slid headfirst under the tag by the Marina catcher.

“Little hook slide,”  Arduino said of Bragg, who also plays basketball and volleyball. “That was huge because if she gets thrown out there, all the momentum goes back to them.”

Pacifica added a run on an error in the third and Counts drove in a run with a single in the fourth off starter Heather Nugent, who filled in well for junior Makayla Mathis (sick).

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The Mariners’ defense helped seal the victory. Junior second baseman Alyssa Del Val closed the sixth by feeding a hard shot to Bragg for the force at second base. Del Val fielded another hard grounder to her right and threw to first for the first out of the seventh.

“She came up with two really big plays,” Nally said of Del Val. “I really just counted on my defense and tried to get them to hit ground balls and stuff I know (we) can field.”