SUNNYVALE
– The Morgan Hill Pride U 12 Gold team finished fourth in the
Northern California ASA qualifier tournament at Twin Creeks last
weekend to advance to the National Tournament in San Diego.
SUNNYVALE – The Morgan Hill Pride U 12 Gold team finished fourth in the Northern California ASA qualifier tournament at Twin Creeks last weekend to advance to the National Tournament in San Diego.
The Gold squad lost a tight match Sunday afternoon against the Marina All-Stars to prevent them for playing for second place. But the Pride secured the final berth to advance to the Nationals in San Diego on July 19-20.
The tournament began for the Pride on Friday evening with a 14-5 win over the Burlingame Fire. Kelly Hillman took the mound for the Pride with Holly Turay behind the plate.
The Fire scored an unearned run in the first inning. But the Pride came back to tie in the top of the second. Amanda Whitling singled then promptly stole second base. An error by the Fire pitcher put Stephanie Doting on base. A wild pitch scored Whitling.
The Fire scored in the bottom of the second inning with two more runs to take a 3-1 lead. The Pride took the lead for good in the third inning. Shortstop Brittany Vaughn Vandergriff led off the inning with a double and Danielle Clampett, ChereRae PreJean, and Whitling (4-for-4) followed with singles.
A seven-run inning in the fifth closed the door on the Fire. In the inning, the Pride had hits by CJ Wrye, Doting, Hillman and Sarah Cornagglia, who relieved Hillman in the fourth and allowed only two runs to place the Pride in the winners bracket.
The Pride faced the Hollister Heat in the matinee game Saturday. The Heat scored in the first inning and then scored four more times in the second inning.
The Heat dominated play despite several key plays by outfielders Stephanie Doting and CJ Wrye. Lone hits from PreJean and Clampett were not enough, and the Pride never got on the scoreboard in the 9-0 loss.
The Pride played the Gilroy Chaos under the lights to decide which team would continue on to Sunday for a chance to qualify to advance.
The Chaos was never in the game after the Pride scored five runs in the first inning. PreJean, Clampett and Turay had hits, and the Pride drew several walks. Error-free play by the Pride and relief pitching by Mandy Kline gave the Pride a shutout and a 17-0 win.
The final game on Sunday ended with a 8-7 loss to the Marina All-Stars. The Pride jumped ahead early when Vaugh-Vandergriff was hit by a pitch. She scored off an RBI single by designated hitter Clampett, who went 4-for-4 batting in the No. 4 spot.
The All- Stars answered back with two runs in the bottom of the second inning and another in the third for a 3-1 lead.
The Pride came back to tie the score in the third inning with hits from PreJean and Doting and a double by Clampett. The Pride took the lead in the fourth with lead off singles by Kline and pitcher Kelly Hillman.
The fourth inning was a long and disasterous inning for the Pride. After the first two batters walked, the All-Stars had back-to-back hits to score three runs. A great backhand snag by second baseman Amanda Whitling followed by two great catches by outfielder CJ Wrye stopped the All-Stars, but the Pride was down 6-4.
Marina shut down the Pride in the fifth and sixth inning and put two more runs on the board to take a 8-4 lead.
In the bottom of the seventh inning, the Pride began its own rally with back-to-back singles form PreJean, Cornaggia and Clampett. An error put Doting on base as the potential tying run. Despite a hit from Hillman the Pride came up empty, leaving Doting on third base.
