LA VERNE – Big hitting and big pitching did it again for the Bonita softball team.

Sophomore shortstop Alyssa Doucette belted a two-run home run in the bottom of the sixth inning as Bonita pulled off a come-from-behind, 2-1 victory over Sunny Hills in the CIF Southern Section Division 3 quarterfinals on Thursday afternoon.

The top-seed Bearcats (25-5-1) are in the semifinals for the first time since 2010. They will be on the road Saturday against Temescal Canyon (22-5), which defeated Heritage 6-5 in the quarterfinals.

Bonita’s Alyssa Doucette. who had a two run homer in the Bearcats’ 2-1 win over Sunny Hills pic.twitter.com/uXhFajEKCH

— Fred J. Robledo (@SGVNSports) May 13, 2022

Bonita trailed 1-0 and had only one hit entering the sixth inning. Pinch hitter Breanna Orosco drew a walk, and then Doucette stepped to the plate. She slugged a no-doubt home run over the left field fence, her sixth home run of the season.

“It was great to help out my team when they needed it most,” Doucette said. “This home run meant the most, for sure. It’s a huge thing being able to say I helped my team put us here.”

Bonita coach Darren Baumunk, a longtime girls basketball coach at the school before stepping away after the 2018 season and returning this fall to coach basketball again, is in his first year coaching the softball team.

“Before I took this team, I saw that there was a lot of talent,” Baumunk said. “It was just a matter of time putting it together. This is a group of girls from top to bottom that was not worried about whether or not they were getting in the game. They were cheering each on no matter what.”

Bonita junior pitcher Brooklyn Shroyer threw a perfect game in the team’s second-round win, and she was solid again, finishing with 12 strikeouts.

The leadoff hitter for the Lancers, Jackie Perales, doubled off of Shroyer and scored two batters later on a single by third baseman Jasmyn Morales for a 1-0 lead.

Sunny Hills never threatened again, as Shroyer retired 20 of the next 23 batters and didn’t allow another hit.

“I always struggle in the first inning,” explained Shroyer, whose twin sister Bryce is the team’s catcher. “From then on, I just knew that my teammates really had my back.

“After the home run, I knew we had the win. It was crazy.”

Bonita tried to answer Sunny Hills in the bottom of the first, as senior second baseman Lauryn Ureno singled and stole second, but she was left stranded there.

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Sunny Hills pitcher Maddie Moreno also settled down and retired 11 in a row and struck out five before a leadoff single in the fifth inning by Bonita junior left fielder Kailey Scott.

Everything changed the next inning.

“(Moreno) was a very good pitcher and moved the ball very well, and I give her props,” Doucette said.