Northwood softball beats Covina with barrage of runs in Division 5 semifinals
IRVINE - The Northwood softball team continued its historic season with a dominant 15-3 win over Covina in the CIF-SS Division 5 semifinals Saturday at Northwood High.
Northwood (14-7-1) will play in its first CIF-SS championship game against Grace of Simi Valley on May 29 or 30 in Irvine.
The Timberwolves reached base 20 times Saturday, had five players with multiple hits and had seven players drive in runs.
That would be a remarkable offensive performance for a lot of teams, but Northwood coach Maddy Grimm isn't surprised by games like this. Her nonchalant reaction makes sense considering the Timberwolves scored 37 runs in their last three regular season games and 32 runs in their three playoff games entering Saturday.
"Honestly, these kids don't surprise me anymore with their offense and what they are capable of," Grimm said. "At any given moment, any one of them has stepped up throughout the season so it's exciting for me to just see who is going to do it today."
Freshman Olivia Chen had the best offensive game of her young career and earned the win in the circle. Chen went 3 for 4 with a home run and six RBIs for the Timberwolves. She also pitched a complete game with two earned runs allowed and three strikeouts after she battled an illness this week.
"Not only on both sides of the ball, but even personality-wise and character, she brings an element that this team needs," Grimm said. "I'm excited to have her for the next three years. The offensive part is not surprising. Her trajectory is straight up with her potential."
"I try to be low cortisol in these moments," Chen said. "Just look for a ball I can hit and square up on it."
Covina (16-12-1) took an early lead with a two-run double from Isabella Vital that give the Colts a 2-0 lead in the first inning.
Northwood responded with a three-run home run from Katerinna Rizos to give the Timberwolves a 3-2 lead. It was Rizos' ninth home run of the season, which is the third most for a junior in Orange County this season.
"I've never been so excited before," Rizos said. "Running the bases, all I could do was yell and seeing my teammates at home plate cheering was the best feeling ever."
"I know she's used to doing that in her second or third at-bat, so to see her do it in her first at-bat was really good," Grimm said. "That was a huge momentum shift for us."
Rizos went 2 for 3 with a home run and four RBIs. Arizona signee Natalie Keith had two hits with one RBI and Jessie Wendt added two hits with a double and one RBI.
The Timberwolves broke the game open in the fourth inning with a RBI single by Keith and a 3-run home run by Chen to give Northwood a 9-2 lead.
Rizos drew a bases-loaded walk in the sixth and Chen followed it with a two-run single to give the Timberwolves a 12-2 lead.
Wendt hit a run-scoring single and Marissa Lee and Skyler Bajorek each drew bases-loaded walks to extend the lead to 15-2.
Covina had eight hits and drew three walks, but stranded 10 runners on base. Isabell Ramirez and Kaila Dominguez each had two hits for the Colts.
Covina won its lone CIF-SS championship in 1989 when it beat Mission Viejo for the Division 3-A title. The Colts were the third-place team from the Valle Vista League this season and beat Santiago, South El Monte and University to reach the semifinals.
Northwood will play Grace for the championship at Bill Barber Park. The Timberwolves are familiar with the stadium and beat Woodbridge 13-0 there on April 28.
"It's a beautiful stadium and I think it's an easy place to kind of feel like the stage is bigger," Grimm said. "But I think having the experience of already playing regular-season games there is going to put us in a good spot with our composure."
Copyright 2026 Tribune Content Agency. All Rights Reserved.
This story was originally published May 23, 2026 at 5:32 PM.