It has been more than five years since Morgan Hill has been represented by any competitive softball team at the national level. This year, Pride of Morgan Hill plans on changing that trend, and it all starts with 11 12-year-old girls.
Over the weekend of March 10-11, Pride of Morgan Hill’s 12-and-under team, coached by Gene and Penny Ciraulo with assistant coaches Jose Ramos and Greg Parish, competed in USSSA’s Luck of the Irish tournament at the famed Big League Field of Dreams in Manteca. It was the first of 10 tournaments leading to the team’s ultimate goal of the National World Series in July.
The tournament did not start off well for Pride, who went 0-3 in Saturday’s pool play against teams from Elk Grove, Los Gatos and Monterey. Pride’s only real offensive sparks came from a home run and a triple hit by pitchers Vanessa Ramos and Madison Gallagher in a 9-8 loss to Monterey’s Central Coast Athletics.
Ironically, after losing an hour of sleep to the time change and having to be at the field at 6:30 a.m. to prepare for their first game on Sunday, something awoke in these girls and their bats.
Pride used a lethal combination of small ball and power hitting to overwhelm its first opponent, San Jose’s TABU, winning 9-0. Slappers Jordyn Campbell, Skylar Millard and Aly Nodohara effectively bunted their way on base. Gallagher went 3 for 3, including two home runs. First baseman Ianna Schiefli added another homer. Â
In the semifinals, Pride took on San Jose’s Nor Cal Legends. After going down 2-0 in the first two innings, Pride resorted to what it does best: bunting. Precision bunts performed by Pride almost seemed to unravel the Legends, who made three costly errors to help Pride go up 6-2 by the end of the fourth inning. Tandem pitching by Ramos and Gallagher, backed by a solid defense led by Nodohara at catcher and outfielders Haley Martinez, Sam Brenny, Sam Parish and Millard, held the Legends to one final run, and Pride went on to win 6-3.
Pride faced Stockton’s Grapettes in the final. As in the previous game, Pride trailed 2-0 early but fought back and tied the game 2-2 by the fourth inning. However, with one last push, the Grapettes scored one run right before time expired and went on to win.   Â
With the second-place effort, Pride qualified for any USSSA World Series tournaments this summer. The team has elected to play in Independence, Mo., and will use the next five months to hone its skills to prepare for this once-in-a-lifetime challenge.
This team sees this opportunity as an honor – and will do so with Pride.
