Spirit of Morgan Hill Panthers defeat Leopards in title game
In a battle of the big cats the Spirit of Morgan Hill Panthers first defeated the Tigers, 8-5, and then devoured the Leopards, 19-9, to earn the Spirit Major Division girls fastpitch softball championship.
In the semifinal game the Tigers and Panthers battled it out with the Tigers taking the early 1-0 lead.
The Tigers lead, however, would be short-lived as the Panthers quickly tied the score when Brittney Lomato singled to right field. She stole second and scored on Katie Machado RBI single to left field.
In the second inning Gail Wiselogel took over the pitching duties for the Panthers and struck out the side.
With the score tied in the third inning the Panthers started to take charge with walks to Lomato, Catrina Perez and Kirsten Doting, Katie Machado delivered with a double to left field to clear the bases. In their half of the inning the Tigers tried to battle back, but a nice play by Maite Ourricarriet followed by a pick off throw by catcher Kirsten Doting to Wiselogel at third base quickly ended the inning.
The fourth inning saw the Panthers extend their lead as Kim George walked, Wiselogel singled on an infield hit, Tayler Kiss-Lane moved the runners over on a sacrifice, Ashley Jenkins walked and Brittney Lomato came through again with an infield single of her own.
But again the Tigers refused to go quietly and with two on in the final inning and the tying runner at the plate, Katie Machado struck out one of the strongest hitters in the league.
Gail Wiselogel then came in and registered the final two outs of the game to pitch the last two outs of the game, thanks in large part to the defense behind her. Machado made a great lunging catch at first base for the second out and Wiselogel had the Panthers moving on to the championship with a clutch strike out to end the game.
In the Majors League Championship game the Panthers struck early and often as they faced a tough Leopards team in the battle for the trophies.
Sparked by their great defense, a trademark of the team all season long, the Panthers quickly set the tone.
Kim George made two great plays at third base for the first two outs of the inning and Katie Machado struck out the third batter. In their half of the first, the Panthers scored on walks and great base running by Brittney Lomato and Catrina Perez, both of whom scored by stealing home plate. In the second inning, the Leopards battled back and took the 4-2 lead .
The Panthers tied the score again on walks and terrific base running by Kim George, Allie Bondi, Shannen Green and Ashley Jenkins. The third inning saw Machado strike out the side keeping the Panthers ahead 8-5.
The Panthers took the lead in the third inning on a walk to Catrina Perez, a clutch single to center field by Kirsten Doting and subsequent walks and stolen bases by Kim George and Tayler Kiss-Lane . With the score now 12-5, the Panthers looked to control their lead with great pitching and got that from Wiselogel as she struck out the side in the fourth.
The bottom of the fourth inning really broke open the game for the Panthers. Gail Wiselogel started the inning with a sharp double to right center field, Ashley Jenkins turned a nice infield single into three bases with some terrific base-running, Lomato, Perez and Doting all walked and with the bases loaded Katie Machado slammed a single to left field to clear the bases.
The Leopards refused to give up scoring three runs of their own in the fifth inning making the score 16-8. The fifth inning again saw the Panthers extending their lead on walks to Shannen Green and Allie Bondi and an infield single by Kimmy George. Getting just one more run in the top of the sixth, the Leopards now moved the score to 16-9.
In the bottom half of the sixth inning Lomato walked and quickly stole second base. Catrina Perez drove her in with a line drive shot to center field for a single and an RBI. Perez stole second and scored on Katie Machado’s 6th hit of the day on a sharp single to left field. With Maite Ourricarriet up, Machado quickly stole second, third and then home to put the Panthers ahead by 10 runs giving the very strong Panthers the 2006 Major Division Championship.
