The Morgan Hill Pride 10-and-under Gold Girls softball team
competed this past weekend against teams from as far away as Los
Angeles and came away with an impressive fourth-place finish at the
Templeton Tournament.
The Morgan Hill Pride 10-and-under Gold Girls softball team competed this past weekend against teams from as far away as Los Angeles and came away with an impressive fourth-place finish at the Templeton Tournament.
Following are the results:
PRIDE 6, Lemoore 3
The Pride got out to an impressive start with Katie Machado doubling to open the game. A walk by Jess Post and a double steal put two runners in scoring position. Heather Johnson took advantage of the situation and singled to center field, scoring both runners. Diana Lopez slapped an RBI double to left field to score Johnson who had stolen second base.
In the third inning the Pride extended their lead when Kayla Cisneroz singled to left, Taylor Pencer walked and Anisha Patel scored them both on a single down the third base line. Patel then stole second and scored on Katie Machado’s single to left field.
The defense for the Pride was the key to the win, as two great catches were made by Maite Ourriceriet in left field. Heather Johnson at third base, and Erin Smolka at second teamed with Diana Lopez at first for multiple key outs. Katie Machado went the distance pitching and had seven strikeouts for the Pride’s first win of the tournament.
Simi Valley A 9, PRIDE 0
The Pride‚s bats took a rest as temperatures hovered in the 90s for the second game of the tournament. Jess Post had the only hit for the Pride with a solid single to center field in the fourth inning.
Defensively, the Pride had some terrific plays by Kayla Cisneroz who had a wonderful tournament at shortstop, pulling in line-drives, pop-ups and making terrific plays to both second and first base.
Amanda Morgan also made a terrific heads-up play coming in on a short line drive from center field, snagging the ball on a bounce in her glove and stepping on second base for the force out.
Heather Johnson pitched for the Pride and had a strong defensive game.
PRIDE 8, Nippomo All-Stars 5
The Pride took a 2-0 lead in the first inning on walks by Post, Smolka, and Patel, and a single by Diana Lopez.
In the third, Kayla Cisneroz walked, Erin Smolka laid a perfect bunt down the third base line for a single, and Taylor Pencer and Amanda Morgan walked.
With two outs, Jessica Post slapped an RBI single to short stop and Heather Johnson doubled to right field to score two more runs.
The fourth inning saw walks by Maite Ourrriceriet and Erin Smolka and a two RBI triple by Cori Kellett.
Nippomo fought back in the final inning, but two nice plays by Amanda Morgan at second base and a strike out by Katie Machado ended Nippomo’s comeback opportunity.
Katie Machado had her second complete game victory of the tournament.
Templeton All-Stars 14, PRIDE 13
Without a doubt, this fourth game for the Pride was the greatest game of the tournament. Morgan Hill fought back from an 8-0 deficit to battle into extra innings to see who would advance to the championship game of the tournament.
The first three innings saw just one hit for the Pride as Jess Post continued her hitting streak with a single to third to score a run in the third inning. Defensively, the Pride stayed in the game on plays such as Anisha Patel running in from center field to snag a ground ball behind the bag and step on second for a force out. In addition, with runners on second and third, Heather Johsnon fielded a ground ball at pitcher looked the runner back to third, threw to Katie Machado for the force at first, Machado quickly threw home to save a run. Cori Kellett also made a great running catch on a ball hit to right field. But, with Templeton up 11-2 in the fourth inning time was running out for the Pride.
The Pride refused to give up this semifinal game and began a remarkable comeback. Kellett was hit by a pitch and Morgan walked which set up a beautiful double to center field by Heather Johnson to score both runs.
With the score 11-4, the Pride had just one more chance in the fifth inning. Although the temperature on the field was well over 100 degrees the Pride’s bats were even hotter. Jess Post singled to third base, Diana Lopez walked, Kayla Cisneroz had an RBI bunt for a single and then Katie Machado hit a line drive double right down the third base line to score two more. Taylor Pencer walked, Kellett was hit by a pitch and Ourriceriet singled to score two more runs.
By this time, the Pride fans were hysterically chanting and dancing in the stands. Heather Johnson came up and was hit by a pitch, and Lopez singled bringing in two more runs to unbelievably tie the game. With two runners still on base, Kayla Cisneroz singled to left field to pull the Pride ahead by two runs, in a remarkable nine-run inning.
Templeton came back with two runs of their own in their half of the inning to force this unbelievable game into extra innings. The international rules kicked in and Katie Machado started at second base and was moved to third on a perfect bunt by Anisha Patel, but the Pride couldn‚t bring her in from third base.
The final inning for the Templeton All-Stars started with the international rules runner at second. Things looked good as Katie Machado struck out the first batter, but a walk, a hit and a walk ended the Pride’s chances.
Simi Valley 12, PRIDE 2
Moving directly from their two-hour, 100-degree marathon game to play in this game took a little out of the Pride team. But, as usual, team spirit kicked in and while the bats were mostly quiet the dugout was filled with cheering teammates. The only hits for the Pride in this game came on a bunt single by Erin Smolka and a single and an RBI in the third to keep Jess Post’s amazing hitting streak going. In the field, the Pride still showed some life as Taylor Pencer had a nice play on a fly ball in left, and Kayla Cisneroz continued her stellar play at shortstop. The Pride ended up with fourth place medals in this very competitive 10-team tournament.
